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I like to use Askbot for my teaching, and this led me to consider the following.

It would be nice if the current "Display tag filter" is generalized so that it can filter questions based on other attributes than tags.

1. If it can filter questions based on creation time (or mod time?), that might be useful.

2. If it is possible for the sysadm to create a few "system tags" and if questions can be filtered with these system tags, that might be nice. A user would be given a reasonable default value of the system tag(s) and the value should be customizable by the user.

I think 2 will make Askbot very useful for teaching. A system tag can consist of the course number and the year. It will be provided by the sysadm, and it is not editable by the normal user. Students do not have to filter questions based on system tags, but normally they would do so to get a more relevant display of questions. The instructor can set up a default system tag for students, while a certain course is on-going. However, the system could still be left as a giant single forum (as multiple forums are not supported by askbot, as far as I can see). In fact, students who are taking multiple courses (more likely at different times, but not excluding at the same time) will benefit from having access to all questions in a single forum if the "system tag" acts as a convenient organization tool.