In a different forum, where I am a moderator, I did a huge FAQ archive thread for things that came up over and over again. I simply made a locked sticky where nobody could post. It contained links out to the various relevant threads. It was easy to manage as you were just collating information and not really creating it. As time moves on, as the topic du jour changes, you just eliminate the old thread and add a new one into the sticky.
A number of times I have searched for something, only to find a post where squid, et al, posted the link to the question in the FAQ - but the FAQ wasn't int the top couple of search results.
There will always be those users that either won't or can't look up the answer to a question themselves before just asking it for what turns out to be the time.
But at least trying to help make the answers easier to find, and easier to point people to the information that already exisys, is better for everyone!
Are there any non-staff users that can edit a post by another user?
I know it's possible to edit the title of a thread to indicate that an app contained in it is deprecated.
But I think only staff can actually change user posts, and I wouldn't expect them to weigh into threads on deprecated vs. active user code. Unless there was an issue of platform instability, copyright or something, and then they'd just delete whatever posts they needed to.
There are certain users that have the power to rename and/or re-categorize a topic. However, a high level of discretion must be used when addressing these topics.
Hubitat’s implementation of discourse seems to recognize some users as moderators, but like @april.brandt said that means you can recategorize threads, add tags or even edit thread titles. But I think that’s about it?
I would settle for being able to make sticky/pinned posts. Although I would never even dream of browsing this forum under the influence of any mind altering substances .
Other forum softwares usually allow moderators to do the following, more or less:
Sticky posts
Edit all posts, except ones by positions above them (super mod, administrators)
Delete posts and threads
Divide threads
Move posts or threads to another category
Manage users (ban, warn, and even delete)
Group message
Probably others too. I would think the forum owner could set some or all permissions to allow this. They might not want to, but it really does help to have mods do some of the "mundane" work like this and let the owner worry about the overall picture or other duties.
Sticky posts would be better as it would be a bit more visible rather than hidden away.
They could just be links to the wiki or documentation but if it was titled in a way that people would check there first it could only improve the situation.