Glossary
What is a knowledge base?
A searchable collection of answers a group has already worked out, kept so people can look them up instead of asking again.
In more detail
The classic knowledge base is a set of help articles written by a support or docs team. A community knowledge base grows a different way: out of real questions, answered by the people who hit the problem. Most healthy groups need both. The community side shows you what people actually ask, and the best of it is worth writing up as a formal article.
Three things decide whether a knowledge base works. It has to be findable (search, titles phrased as questions, tags). It has to be trustworthy (a marked answer, a date, a named author). And it has to be maintained, so old answers are updated or retired instead of quietly misleading people.
Chat is the opposite shape. It is sorted by time, so last month's answer sinks under this morning's jokes. A knowledge base is sorted by topic and quality, so the answer is where you look for it.
Example
Search: onboarding checklistHow an answer becomes knowledge
Asked
A member posts a question with a clear title and some context.
Answered
Peers or experts reply. The thread holds the discussion.
Marked
The asker or a moderator marks the reply that solved it.
Found
The next person searches, lands on the marked answer, and never has to ask.
Good practice
Small habits that make the difference.
Title every question as a question
"Refund for late joiners?" is findable. "Quick one" is not. Edit titles when a member forgets.
Link instead of re-answering
When a repeat question comes in, reply with a link to the solved thread. Over time members learn to search first.
Promote the top answers to articles
If the same solved thread gets linked every week, turn it into a proper help article and point the thread at it.
Schedule a clean-up
Once a quarter, skim the most viewed answers and fix anything that has changed.
How Dium handles it
In Dium, every solved Wave in a Flow becomes part of that Flow's searchable knowledge base. Search looks across Waves, and marked answers are the first thing a reader sees.
Related terms
Best answer
The one reply on a question that the asker or a moderator marks as the reply that actually solved it.
Read definitionCommunity of practice
A community of practice is a group of people who share a craft or problem and improve by learning from each other.
Read definitionOffice hours
Office hours are a recurring, open time slot when an expert is available to answer whatever people bring to them.
Read definition