For years, comments on Joomla sites have felt stuck. The popular options still work, but they look like they belong to an older web, the moderation tools fight you instead of helping, and keeping spam out turns into a part-time job. Meanwhile the easy alternative, handing your discussion to a third-party widget, means your readers' words and data leave your site, ads creep in, and your pages slow down.

We wanted something better for our own sites. So we built it, and today we are sharing it with you. It is called QuillThreads.

QuillThreads is a comments system for Joomla articles that we are genuinely proud to put on a page. It looks modern, it is fast on phones and laptops alike, and it gives you a moderation desk that respects your time. Everything lives in your own Joomla database. Nothing is handed off to anyone.

Comments people will actually want to use

Open an article and the thread feels alive. Replies nest cleanly, or stay flat and chronological if that is more your style. Readers can sort by newest, oldest, or most upvoted. They can vote, react with emoji if you enable it, mention each other, and pick up a conversation where it left off.

When an article takes off and the comments run into the hundreds, the page does not buckle. Comments load in pages with a tidy "load more", and search runs across the whole discussion, not just what happens to be on screen. There is a light theme, a dark theme, an automatic mode that follows the reader's device, and an accent colour you can set to match your brand.

Moderation without the dread

This is the part we cared about most, because it is the part that usually goes wrong.

QuillThreads gives you a real dashboard. You see what is waiting, you act on it in one click, and you act on a hundred things at once when you need to. Approve, feature, pin, unpublish, mark as spam, trash, all in bulk. Every comment carries a spam score so the borderline cases are easy calls. You can ban by keyword, email, or IP. You can set rules so the routine cases never reach you at all: hold guests only, hold a first-time commenter, auto-approve people who have earned your trust, or auto-hide anything that collects too many reports.

Optional AI that handles the tedious part

If you connect a Shondalai AI account, QuillThreads can score new comments for spam and toxicity the moment they arrive, hold the risky ones for you, and summarise a long thread into a sentence or two so you can catch up at a glance. It is completely optional, it is pay-as-you-go, and the extension is fully functional without it. We added it because reading the same low-effort spam every morning is a poor use of anyone's day.

Spam that stops before you see it

A honeypot and a dwell-time check catch bots before a person is ever involved. Rate limits cap how fast and how often anyone can post. Blocked words and blocked link domains do the obvious filtering, and you can require a CAPTCHA for guests using any standard Joomla CAPTCHA plugin. The goal is simple: you should be moderating real people, not cleaning up after machines.

Privacy you can stand behind

Because your comments stay on your site, you are not quietly feeding a tracking network. QuillThreads goes further than that. It asks for consent and links to your policy. It lets you choose how IP addresses are handled, including hashing them or not storing them at all, with automatic cleanup after a retention window you set. Commenter emails are stored encrypted, never in plain text. And a privacy plugin answers Joomla's data export and erasure requests, so when someone asks what you hold about them, or asks you to remove it, the answer is built in.

Keep the comments you already have

Switching usually means losing your history, and that stops a lot of people from ever switching. We did not want that to be the reason you stay on something you have outgrown.

QuillThreads imports from JComments, Akeeba Engage, and plain CSV or JSON exports. Every import shows you a dry-run preview first, so you can see exactly what will come across, with the reply threading intact, before a single row is written. If you run it twice, nothing duplicates. You can move your discussion over in an afternoon and keep every conversation your readers have had.

Built for Joomla, the right way

QuillThreads runs on Joomla 5 and Joomla 6 with PHP 8.1 or newer. It uses native Joomla access control, the Web Asset Manager, and a modern interface on both the front end and the admin side. Comments render on the server on first load, so search engines see your discussion and the page paints instantly. A Smart Search plugin makes comment content findable on your site, and notifications plus subscriptions bring readers back when there is something new to read.

Try it on your site

QuillThreads is available now. The package includes the component, the content plugin that places the thread on your articles, a latest-comments module, the Smart Search and privacy plugins, and the shared Shondalai Core library, all in one install.

Take a look at the https://demo.shondalai.com/quillthreads, read the https://docs.shondalai.com/quillthreads/overview, and when you are ready, grab your copy. If you are moving from JComments or Akeeba Engage, start with a dry-run import and see your own comments land before you commit to anything.

We built QuillThreads for our own sites first. We think it will feel right at home on yours.

Today we are releasing Rewardify 2.0, a major version and a complete rebuild for Joomla 5 and 6. It turns what your members already do on your site into points, badges, levels, and rewards they can spend, all on rules you set yourself and all recorded in a permanent ledger you can audit.

The story: why we rebuilt Rewardify

Rewardify v1 did one thing: it kept a single points balance on each member and added to it. That worked, until you wanted to ask a harder question. Why does this member have the balance they have? What happened last March? Can I run a second currency, or a holiday boost, or a badge with real criteria behind it? With a single number on a row, those answers did not exist.

So we started again. Rewardify 2.0 is built around an append-only ledger: every grant, deduction, redemption, and expiry is one permanent row, and balances, levels, and badges are projections rebuilt from that record at any time. On top of the ledger sit the things v1 could never reach: multiple currencies, configurable rules, badges, levels, and a redemption store with real fulfilment. The important shift is that all of it is admin-configurable instead of fixed in code. You build the economy. Rewardify supplies the engine that ties it together.

What is new in 2.0

A no-code rules engine, with streaks and a Simulate tool

Most rewards plugins ship a fixed list of points you cannot change. Rewardify ships an empty rules engine instead. You pick a trigger (login, registration, article published, order completed, quiz passed), add optional conditions, choose what it awards and to whom, then set the limits that keep it honest: once ever, once per day, a per-day cap, a lifetime cap, or a cooldown. Streak rules reward a run of consecutive days and can pay again at each milestone, which turns "I logged in once" into a run nobody wants to break. Rules are versioned, and the Simulate tool lets you test a rule against a real payload before it ever goes live and pays a member.

Multiple currencies, starting with Community Points and Reputation

Community Points are earned and spent, and can expire or be kept for life, depending on how you configure them. Reputation is different: it is lifetime standing that only ever rises and is never spent, and it is what drives Levels. Keeping the two apart means a member's rank reflects everything they have ever contributed, even after they have spent their points down to nothing. Rewardify is multi-currency by design: these two come ready to use, and you can create your own currencies from the dashboard when your site needs more, like a seasonal credit or a store token.

Badges and Levels that mean something

Badges arrive both from a rule and from their own multi-step criteria (counts, time windows, streaks), and they support prerequisites, repeatable and secret badges, tiers, rarities, and Open Badges metadata. Levels rise from lifetime Reputation, each with a name, a colour, and a perk. Because a level can map to a Joomla user group, reaching one can unlock real access on your site, not just a label on a profile.

A redemption catalogue with real fulfilment

A currency that never buys anything is just a score. Rewardify gives points a destination: a catalogue with real fulfilment behind it. When a member redeems, their points are held in a reservation while the reward is delivered, and returned automatically if delivery fails, so nobody loses points to a redemption that did not complete. Fulfilment ships for EasyCommerce (a discount coupon, or a granted product) and for Community Quiz (access to a course, quiz, or exam), and you can build your own provider.

Campaigns

Campaigns are time-boxed seasons and boosts with their own start and end dates. A double-points week or a holiday push begins and ends on schedule, with no need to remember to switch a rule off afterwards.

The ledger, anti-abuse, and a trust model

The append-only ledger is the single source of truth, with a full audit trail. When a situation needs a person, you post a manual adjustment with a required reason recorded against the admin who made it, so corrections are accountable rather than invisible. Every reported action carries a trust level, so low-trust or client-reported actions can be held for approval before they pay out. A global daily points cap per member, a cooldown between identical actions, and self-vote and self-referral prevention close off the obvious ways an economy gets gamed.

A privacy-respecting leaderboard

Rewardify ranks your most active members by a currency you choose, shown both as a site module and as an in-app member tab. Privacy is the default: nobody appears unless they opt in, and anyone can stand behind an alias. Because the leaderboard runs on the same ledger as everything else, a position is always honest and never hand-edited.

Integrations across your stack

Your members do not live in one extension, so their rewards should not either. Adapters ship for Joomla core (logins, registrations, article publishing), Community Builder, Kunena, HikaShop, EasyCommerce, and Community Quiz, with no code needed to switch one on. The same rules, limits, and trust checks apply to every source, and new integrations arrive as plugins, so the set keeps growing without touching the core engine.

A modern member and admin experience

Members get a self-service area that shows their balances and activity, badges and level, campaigns, the catalogue, the leaderboard, a how-to-earn guide, and their own privacy controls. Admins get a modern single-page console: a reward-economy dashboard, rule and badge builders, the ledger, the member directory, themes, and branded email notifications for points earned, a badge unlocked, a level up, points expiring, and more.

A developer SDK

Underneath the screens is a clean SDK and adapter model. Any extension can report events to be rewarded under the same rules as everything else, or act as a fulfilment provider for the catalogue with the same reservation and refund safety as the built-in providers. Because the engine is event-sourced and replay-safe, awards are idempotent and auditable, so the record that makes it extensible is the same record that makes it trustworthy.

Upgrading from v1

Moving from v1 is supported. A one-time tool imports each member's old balance as an opening grant on the new ledger, so people keep what they earned, and the points migration is documented step by step: read Upgrading from v1 before you go live.

One honest note on expectations. Because 2.0 is a ground-up rebuild, your rules are built fresh in the new engine rather than carried across. That is the point at which you get to decide what every action on your site is really worth, this time with currencies, limits, streaks, and a Simulate tool to back you up.

Get Rewardify 2.0

Rewardify 2.0 (version 2.0.0) runs on Joomla 5 and 6, and needs PHP 8.1 or higher with MySQL 5.7+ or MariaDB 10.3+. It is licensed under the GNU General Public License v2 or later, and is sold and supported by Shondalai (BulaSikku Technologies Pvt. Ltd.).

• Buy or upgrade: https://shondalai.com/products/rewardify
• Documentation: https://docs.shondalai.com/rewardify/overview
• Changelog: https://docs.shondalai.com/rewardify/rewardify-changelog

We have wanted to build this version of Rewardify for a long time. If you run a Joomla community, a shop, or a learning site, we think it will give your members a reason to come back tomorrow. Tell us what you build with it.

The all-new Community Quiz is here

Community Quiz has been completely rebuilt for Joomla 6. This is not an update to the old component. It is a new architecture, a reimagined experience for both administrators and learners, and a large set of features that turn Community Quiz from a quiz tool into a full assessment, certification, and online-course platform.

If you have used Community Quiz before, the change will be obvious the moment you open it. If you are new, this is the best time to start.

Why we rebuilt it

The previous Community Quiz served thousands of sites well, but it grew over many years on top of an older approach. To deliver the things our users kept asking for, full courses, proper grading workflows, trustworthy certificates, and selling, we needed a modern foundation rather than another layer on the old one.

So we started again. The result is faster, cleaner, and far more capable, and it is built to keep growing.

A new architecture

The new Community Quiz is a single-page application. The administrator and the learner experience are both built with React, talking to a service-layer PHP backend designed for Joomla 6 and PHP 8.1.

What that means in practice:

• It feels like an app. Authoring, grading, and learning happen without constant page reloads.
• It is consistent. One dashboard covers quizzes, courses, grading, certificates, commerce, and reports.
• It is fair by design. Every attempt is snapshotted, so editing a quiz or its scoring never changes results that learners have already taken.
• It is responsive. The learner player works on phones, tablets, and desktops.

What is new

This release is large. Here are the highlights.

32 question types

Choose from 32 question types across eight groups: choice, text, matching, interactive, numeric, code, media, and specialised. That includes hotspot, cloze, drag-and-drop, numeric and calculated answers, code and SQL, confidence-based marking, observation, and OSCE stations.

A real exam builder

Organise an exam into sections, each with its own rules, timing, and navigation. Draw randomised question sets from question banks so no two sittings are the same. Plan balanced coverage with a blueprint. Choose an integrity level that ranges from open practice quizzes up to locked-down, proctored exams.

Automatic scoring and human grading

Objective questions are scored instantly, with partial credit, negative marking, grade bands, and section weighting. Written work flows into a grading queue with rubric marking, blind grading, and a regrade engine for when an answer key needs fixing. Automatic and manual marks combine into one final result.

Online courses

Community Quiz is now a learning platform. Build courses from modules and lessons, including video, reading, quizzes, assignments, and resources. Manage enrolment with capacity, waitlists, self-paced or cohort pacing, and scheduled content drip. Track progress, enforce completion rules, and award a certificate when a learner finishes.

Verifiable certificates

Design credentials in a visual template designer, then issue them automatically on a pass or a course completion. Every certificate has a unique ID, a public verification page, and a QR code, so anyone can confirm it is genuine. Open Badge support, CPD hours, expiry, renewal, and revocation are all built in.

Sell quizzes and courses

Community Quiz connects to our EasyCommerce component so you can charge for your content. Use one-time, subscription, or membership pricing; add bundles and coupons; offer free previews; and grant access automatically the moment payment clears.

Reports, modules, and integrations

Track attempts, results, enrolments, and revenue with built-in dashboards and reports. Place site modules for featured quizzes, a leaderboard, and a learner's own progress. And because it is built for Joomla, it works with categories, access levels, privacy tools, Smart Search, and your gamification extensions, and it sends branded, fully editable email notifications.

A reimagined experience

For administrators, everything lives in one place, grouped by what you are doing: author, learn, deliver, and organise. Settings are clear and centralised. The builder guides you from structure to publication.

For learners, the player is focused and fast. Exams are distraction-free, courses are easy to navigate, and certificates are a click away.

Moving from an earlier version

The new Community Quiz uses a new data model built for everything above. If you are coming from an earlier version, the component includes migration tooling to migrate your existing content. Always back up your site first, and test on a staging copy before going live. See the documentation for the current migration steps.

Get it today

Community Quiz is available now.

• Product page: https://shondalai.com/products/community-quiz
• Documentation: https://docs.shondalai.com/community-quiz/overview
• Support: https://shondalai.com/contact-us

If you run training, certification, education, or membership content on Joomla, the new Community Quiz gives you the whole pipeline, from the first question to a verified credential and a paid enrolment, in one component. We cannot wait to see what you build with it.

Community Answers 7 is now available.

This is the biggest update to Community Answers in years. It is a full rewrite for Joomla 6, with a new frontend, cleaner administration, better moderation, bounties, notifications, profiles, and a more polished user experience.

The goal was simple: keep the Joomla foundation that site owners already trust, and build a modern Q&A experience on top of it.

Community Answers still works the Joomla way. It uses Joomla categories, Joomla tags, Joomla editors, Joomla permissions, Joomla menus, and Joomla SEF URLs. Existing communities can move forward without losing the structure that already works for them.

What is new

Community Answers 7 includes a new question feed with filters for newest, active, bountied, unanswered, and most-voted questions.

The question detail page has been rebuilt with better answer cards, comments, voting, accepted answers, follow, bookmark, share, flag, edit, and delete actions.

The ask question form now supports Joomla categories, the Joomla editor, Joomla core tags, attachments, and duplicate question suggestions. This helps users ask better questions and reduces repeated topics.

The bounty system is now a complete workflow. Users can start bounties, see their available balance, track active bounties, and award points when an answer is accepted.

There are also new user pages, profile pages, and a leaderboard. These help bring attention to useful members and make the community feel more active.

Notifications are now part of the component. Community Answers supports in-app notifications, notification preferences, and editable email templates.

Moderation is stronger too. Version 7 includes a flag queue, audit logs, review actions, and permission checks for moderators.

Built for Joomla 6

Community Answers 7 is built for Joomla 6 and PHP 8.2 or later.

The frontend uses a modern React app, but the component still respects Joomla routing, Joomla ACL, Joomla categories, Joomla tags, and Joomla menu items.

This means your Q&A pages can look and feel modern while still fitting into a Joomla site properly.

Designed for real communities

Community Answers can be used for:

• Product support communities
• Public knowledge bases
• Education Q&A sites
• Expert communities
• Internal team help desks
• Reward-based communities with points and bounties

The component also integrates with Shondalai Core services for points, activity streams, profile links, avatars, and external badge providers such as Rewardify.

Better customization

Version 7 includes built-in themes, density settings, layout controls, and answer card styling options.

Site owners can show or hide the top toolbar, left menu, and right sidebar blocks. The frontend also includes semantic ca-* CSS classes so templates can override styles without depending on long utility class names.

For developers

Community Answers 7 includes modern Joomla plugin events with clear event contracts. Legacy Community Answers event aliases are also supported where needed.

This gives third-party developers a safer way to integrate with questions, answers, comments, votes, bounties, notifications, and moderation.

A major step forward

Community Answers 7 is more than a visual update. It is a new foundation for the component.

It is easier to use, easier to moderate, easier to customize, and better prepared for the future of Joomla.

If you already use Community Answers, this release brings your Q&A community into the Joomla 6 era.