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How do we refer to a question and all of its answers and comments collectively?

What is the normal word to use for this? I associate thread more with forums, not with SE. But is it used? What's the normally understood term on SE?

I also asked a question to ELU asking about Q&A sites in general (not just SE convention), and going deeper into language aspects.

Here, I'm asking: What's the common way to say it on SE?

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  • I think Q/A and thread are the most common. That is, if you're looking for something shorter than my toenail.
    – M.A.R.
    Sep 30, 2016 at 15:09
  • @Rubisco What do you mean by the toenail part?
    – Fiksdal
    Sep 30, 2016 at 15:13
  • A 'medium' 7-letter word.
    – M.A.R.
    Sep 30, 2016 at 15:14
  • @Rubisco Oh, I see. Yeah, either that or the phrase "Question-answer-comment-unit".
    – Fiksdal
    Sep 30, 2016 at 15:16
  • 3
    What's wrong with just calling it a question?
    – Catija
    Sep 30, 2016 at 17:06
  • @Catija As I discussed in the ELU question, it's sort of ambigous as to whether you mean the whole thread or just the question itself.
    – Fiksdal
    Sep 30, 2016 at 17:07
  • I think Reg's answer addresses that... Personally, I don't find it ambiguous at all.
    – Catija
    Sep 30, 2016 at 17:08
  • @Catija I think it depends on the context whether it's ambiguous or not. For example, the example sentence from ELU.
    – Fiksdal
    Sep 30, 2016 at 17:10
  • @Catija For example: "Did that question contain any references to unicorns?" doesn't tell the reader whether you're talking about just the question or the whole "thread".
    – Fiksdal
    Sep 30, 2016 at 17:17
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    Terms don't always have to be unambiguous... As someone who spends a lot of time in the chat rooms here, no one uses your accepted term... Everyone just calls them questions.
    – Catija
    Sep 30, 2016 at 17:29
  • @Catija For the ELU question, I'm certainly looking for something unambiguous. Even here, though, it would be useful to have something unambiguous. Regarding acceptance, there was only one answer for me to accept. If you posted "question" as an answer and it got more upvotes, I would perhaps have accepted that. I gave 8 hours before accepting. If an answer I like better comes along, I will accept that. Why don't you post "question" as an answer, so that people can vote on it? I really don't feel strongly one way or the other, English is not my native language. I'm looking for input.
    – Fiksdal
    Sep 30, 2016 at 17:34

4 Answers 4

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I usually refer to it as Q/A set (Question and Answers set), which seems to cover the entire list of content.

You can use the term Q/A pair if you are referring to one question with one answer.

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  • 1
    How about comments? I don't think there is a word to cover all three.
    – Rathony
    Sep 30, 2016 at 9:30
  • 4
    They are second-class citizens. No one cares about them ;) . I don't think we need to have a term that includes 'comments' since they are part of the question/answer.
    – Patrick Hofman
    Sep 30, 2016 at 9:31
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    Yes, true. But I think OP wants to know if there is one. :-)
    – Rathony
    Sep 30, 2016 at 9:31
  • 3
    I would say that Q/A set covers comments too.
    – Patrick Hofman
    Sep 30, 2016 at 9:32
  • I prefer Q&A but yeh this pretty much covers it
    – Cai
    Sep 30, 2016 at 14:39
  • It's basically Q/A set with attached comments threads, we just tend to ignore that the comments exist
    – Kyle Fairns
    Nov 28, 2019 at 9:25
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I propose

Q-A page

I think it is self-explanatory. I offer it here in case others find it useful, and to see if it collects useful feedback.

I thought it was self-explanatory, but what I missed was that page has more than one meaning! I meant page as in webpage. I think it's an acceptable shorter version, given the context.

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  • 1
    What about this question having multiple pages of answers?
    – Anton Menshov
    Aug 22, 2019 at 3:52
  • 1
    @AntonMenshov - Do you mean that one has to scroll down quite far to be able to read everything on that webpage? I don't see that as a problem, because a webpage can be a mile long. I will edit my answer to clarify.
    – aparente001
    Aug 22, 2019 at 4:07
  • Nope, there are literally several pages (1,2,3) for the aforementioned question. Take a look at the top answer about Jon Skeet, and you will see a pagination right above. This situation happens when a question has A LOT of answers.
    – Anton Menshov
    Aug 22, 2019 at 5:15
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I usually say "on this page", because you're right that although "thread" is most natural, it isn't really one and using that term promotes thinking of Stack Overflow as forum software.

It's not ideal but doesn't come up often.

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Thread.

It may not be 100% accurate or ideal, but it's likely the most natural and common. People are used to forum software, and while this network is decidedly not a discussion forum, it has enough commonalities that many of the terminology has a tendency to be borrowed from it.

I did a simple query and there was 2861 uses in posts on Meta SE.

For questions, you can use the term "question"

enter image description here.

For answers, you can use the term "answer"

enter image description here

For an unknown type of thing posted, or to talk about all of them in general, you can use the term "post", terminology which is used in various places across the website and in the Stack Exchange database.

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