Forum feature

[nrohler]

Maybe this is asking too much of the software, but...

Our requirements include a collaborative user forum (in the manner of phpBB or vBulletin), where existing customers can talk about an issue (grouped by product and sub-category) and optionally request a support team member to respond to the topic. Thus, when they submit a ticket, they would have the following options:

- Ticket Type: (1) Public / viewable by all users or (2) Private / viewable only by support personnel
- If Type 1: (1) Support personnel response is needed or (2) For community benefit only / public discussion
- If Type 1: Receive email notification of replies from (1) all users, or (2) only support personnel?

Other users would be able to browse the public tickets and add responses, but only if they were approved for the product in question (this would be updated through purchase records). Later on, a public ticket could be made private or vice-versa, or a no-response-needed ticket could be flagged as needing a response from support personnel. These last two tasks could only be done by the original ticket opener or a support representative. A support representative could lock the status of tickets as private or public. Support personnel could moderate comments as needed, and split up tickets/threads if they got off topic.

Is such a feature out there?