Q&A forums - 2 submit buttons, Answer or Reply

[chilihead]

I touched on this is another suggestion but it is lost in the discussion so adding here so can be properly vetted.

Suggestion: In Question forums, when you reply, add two submit buttons, one to "answer" one to "reply without answering." So maybe the buttons are "Submit Answer" "Submit Reply".

All it would do is simply create a reply without the votes. This is great for those posts like "Thanks" or any post that is not an answer, determined by the submitter. Even with rules and tight moderation, you can't stop people from posting thanks, posting that it is not the right answer, etc.

This gives a much cleaner look, the votes are next to the answers only, and discussion posts cannot be voted on, which often times happens and looks odd. Some are treating it as "Likes". It also just looks strange you have the ability to vote on such replies.

Also some way to know the question starter has replied, maybe with a question mark icon or similar , so when scrolling they are easily identified. Same size icon as the green best answer, above the votes. Knowing the question starter can be important when reading answers and you don't always know, so identification would be great. Thanks!