Feature request: let members mark a forum reply as 'answered the question' so the useful threads surface, and show the answer at the top
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#1 Nine years of long haul and three weeks on this forum, and the thing I notice as a new member is that the best threads have the answer in reply four and the reader has to find it. The applicants who search 'reach test 212' find eighteen threads and do not know which reply is the one from the crew member who has actually done it.
The suggestion
A way for the topic author (and the moderators) to mark one or more replies as the answer, with those replies shown at the top of the thread under the opening post, or at least marked clearly. Like the question and answer sites do, but light: a tick, a highlight, nothing more.
Why
The forum is now big enough that the good answers are buried. The threads with 14 replies have three that matter. A reader on a phone at a Doha bus stop needs the three. The crew who wrote the good replies would get the recognition, which encourages more of them.
The related one
The crew tag on replies (the airline badge showing a reply is from current crew of that airline) is already there and it is exactly the right idea. Combining the two (a reply from current crew of the airline, marked as the answer by the author) would make the airline boards a proper reference.
A smaller one
The search results could show which replies matched, not just which topics. When I search 'rest class' I want the reply that mentions it, not the topic title that does not.
I know the site is run by one person and the forum is new. These are the three things I would do next if it were mine. The answer marking is the one that would change how the forum reads.
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#2 Virgin, and the buried answer in reply four is exactly my experience of the long threads. A tick from the author would fix most of it. Seconded.
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#3 Joining in six weeks and I read this forum on my phone at the hotel desk between guests. The answer at the top would have saved me hours. Seconded from the applicant side.
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#4 easyJet, and the search showing the matching reply is the one I want most. Half my searches find the right topic and the wrong scroll position.
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#5 Thank you, all three are good and they are noted in order. The crew tag is live as you say. The answer marking is at the top of the list: the plan is that the topic author or a moderator can mark a reply as the answer and it is shown under the opening post with a clear label. The search showing the matching reply is a bigger change to how the search works and comes after that. This thread will be updated when either is live.