Which CMS or other framework should I use to develop a stackoverflow-like site?

Question

I want to develop a Q/A site with features substantially similar to stackoverflow, but targeted to a different niche (electrical/hardware engineering as opposed to software engineering).

The code that runs stackoverflow is not opensource, and from a previous mention of it on the podcast I believe I can assume it never will be. (Though uservoice said "Wait 3-6 months and ask again")

I don't want to start from scratch as Jeff et al did, but I do want a Q/A site rather than a discussion site.

What framework or CMS would you start with to create this site if you were tasked with it?

-Adam Davis

Answer 1

You could take a look at DotNetNuke.

Answer 2

Use Drupal combined with the Community Plugins, specially the Questions and Answers module.

There are several Open Source projects underway with the specific goal of creating Stack Overflow work-alike sites, or at least using SO as inspiration for their own designs:

• cnprog - the software behind the highly-acclaimed Chinese programming Q&A site of the same name

• Stacked - a project by long-time Stack Overflow user Thomas Hansen

• Ever wonder what SO would be like if it had been written in Ruby? Check out shapado, a "stackoverflow-like app written in ruby, mongomapper and mongodb".

• A similar project is cahoots, which starts with the SO wiki + Q&A idea, but expands on it with features supporting integrated blogging, article publication, and limited "social networking". This project is fairly new, but quite ambitious in scope...

Answer 3

the Ektron CMS has a strong suite of community networking tools -- it may be a good place to start.

Answer 4

Are you going to open source it? I can definitely think a lot of people would want to use it for their own communities.

As for the question, I agree with Jorge, Drupal is highly extensible.

Answer 5

My suggestion for a framework would be Ruby on Rails (but of course with that you would start from scratch). Maybe you want to look into Insoshi.

Answer 6

@pek

I would open source it, if only because I don't want to duplicate effort, and I'm certain others are interested in various components of it.

I suspect if I wait 3-6 months, though, someone else will have something similar available and open already.

Answer 7

@Adam Why wait 3-6 months and not be the first one?

Answer 8

Adam, would you, please, share your experience with this project?

I've asked a similar question (although for me it's more a student excersize) and was sent here. Wondering how much progress you did in these two weeks, what you've learned.

Answer 9

I don't have an easy answer to this question, but you might consider looking at Kigg:

• http://www.codeplex.com/Kigg
• http://kigg.dotnetslackers.com/
• http://dotnetslackers.com/articles/aspnet/KiggBuildingADiggCloneWithASPNETMVC1.aspx

Kigg is an open-source Digg clone built on ASP.NET MVC. I realize this is different than StackOverflow, but it is still a user generated web site with an extensive comments, karma & membership system.

This might offer a good starting place.

Answer 10

Adam, any progress so far?

Answer 11

Well the one that started it all is, of course Slashcode, the open-source software that powers Slashdot.org. There's also Pligg, an open-source digg-clone and a cursory google search will lead to many other similar open-source systems.

Answer 12

You can always check out Coordino And use it as a base for your project. It is a PHP based implementation of StackOverflow