We've just rolled out a software update for all QuestionShark sites that adds a slew of new features, including:

1.  Allow support reps to forward emails into the support queue

Frequently, we have customers email us for assistance without using our support email address.  In such cases, we would have to ask them to email to the proper email.  It's kind of a pain for customers and not exactly user-friendly.

Now QuestionShark solves that by allowing support reps to forward emails to their site's support email address.  When a support rep does this, a new support topic will be created and it will be automatically listed as posted by the initial sender (not the forwarder).   The initial sender will also be notified about the new support topic.  

2.  Support for multiple participants in private topics

Support reps can now add additional participants to a private topic. In addition, if a support rep replies to a support topic by email and adds a new email address as a CC, that added email address will also be added a topic participant, with access to the private topic.

If a user starts a new private topic (either in the web interface or by email), that user can also add participants at that time. However, users who are not support reps cannot add participants to private topics on their own AFTER the topic has been created.  This is to give your organization more control over the flow of information in a private topic.

If a user (non support rep) CC's a new user who is not a topic participant already on the private topic when replying by email, the additional CC'ed users will obviously receive the sender's email, but will NOT be added as a topic participant. Only support reps can add topic participants after initial topic creation.

3. Support description field

We've added a new (optional) description field that is displayed at the top of the support summary page. This allows you to display custom text/html at the top of your support page to provide clarity about your support model or otherwise welcome the user to your support site.

4. FAQ -> Knowledge Base

We've changed the term "FAQ" to "Knowledge Base". We'v also improved the overall interface of the Knowledge Base to make it easier to navigate.

5. New notification: Open Topics Awaiting Response

We've added a new QuestionShark setting that, when enabled, sends an email to all support reps for any topics that have not had at least one response after X days (you control the time period that triggers the emails). This is a great way to avoid missing new topics and to make sure all hands on deck are notified about orphan topics that are overdue for an initial response.

There were numerous other minor changes, fixes, and improvements in this release as well.