Most forums have a questions/support section in which users ask questions and other members and/or staff members will answer. Often, a question will come up so many times it is annoying to answer anymore. At this point, there are 2 easy things you can do to solve this problem. You can create a FAQ for the forum for all the questions that are asked recently, or you could create a sub-forum for an archive of the questions asked. There're pros and cons for each of these options. What would you usually do or what are you currently doing? I have a question archive as a sub-forum for my Questions forum. I do this because it makes it as easy as members using the Search feature to search for their question. It could be in the Archives and ta-da! Finished, and the answer is found. However the cons presented, make managing it a lot harder, but easier to use.
I have the Suggestions and Feedback forum for any support or questions members may have for anything adminbb related, which is something all forums should have as a place for members to ask for help. And yes a FAQ/Help page can be helpful, most software have it by default.
I usually have my Questions separated from my Suggestions. It makes finding what you need a lot easier. As you mentioned, a lot of forum softwares have a FAQ page already installed. However, I hardly look at those. The reason being that some admins never bother to edit them so they cannot be trusted. If I ever did end up making a FAQ, I'd probably sticky it in the Questions forum with (READ BEFORE POSTING A NEW THREAD) in the title.
I agree that it is quite annoying to be dealing with similar questions or concerns coming from members so the best solution would be to provide a separate FAQs section where members can be directed to view first before typing any concern to the admin. One other way to benefit from this activity is to have a separate thread where members are open to ask and answer any kind of questions they may have. This section I am sure will generate a lot of buzz.
I can understand a FAQ for an administrator or promotional forum but for other forum genre I think a Feedback board is sufficient. Not many forums have a FAQ unless they are a larger or more professional forum or possibly commercial.
I agree with that, personally I dont see it as something important unless you have a very big forum or as you mentioned a commercial one.
