# Automated AI Answers in the Forum: How We Support PSD-Tutorials.de Faster with Make.com and XenForo > URL: https://4eck-media.de/en/blog/automated-ai-answers-in-the-forum-how-we-support-psd-tutorials-de-faster-with-make-com-and-xenforo/ > Language: en > Description: At 4eck Media we build AI automations for businesses, from the first interface through to the finished workflow in live operation. This is best shown with real projects rather tha… --- At 4eck Media we build **AI automations for businesses**, from the first interface through to the finished workflow in live operation. This is best shown with real projects rather than theory. That is why we document one of our own automations here, built for our forum PSD-Tutorials.de, including every decision made along the way. This case study shows the complete setup with Make.com, XenForo and AI, exactly the way we implement it in client projects too. ![Automatische KI-Antworten im Forum: Wie wir PSD-Tutorials.de mit Make.com und XenForo schneller unterstützen](https://4eck-media.de/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/automatisierte-ki-prozesse-unternehmen-support-antworten.avif "Automatische KI-Antworten im Forum: Wie wir PSD-Tutorials.de mit Make.com und XenForo schneller unterstützen") ## Why we built this workflow For many years, forums have been places where people ask questions, get help and share knowledge. PSD-Tutorials.de grew out of exactly this idea: creatives helping creatives. Whether it is Photoshop, photography, graphic design, web design, AI, software, print files or general creative questions, many problems are easier to solve through discussion than on your own. But forums face a different situation today than they used to. Many users now put their questions straight to search engines, AI assistants or YouTube. That is convenient, but it is also a challenge for a community. Because when questions in the forum go unanswered, the site quickly feels quieter than it actually is. That is precisely why we built a new AI automation workflow at PSD-Tutorials.de. The goal: when a new forum thread is created and nobody replies within a certain period, a first helpful answer should appear automatically. That answer should not leave the person asking on their own, should provide initial guidance, and at the same time should still leave real members the opportunity to join in later with their own experience. The automation runs via Make.com, accesses XenForo and creates answers with the help of AI. One important point: this is a transparent AI user with the name: **Automated AI answer from [PSD-Tutorials.de](http://psd-tutorials.de)** ![Automatisierte KI-Antwort im Support-Forum](https://4eck-media.de/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/automatisierte-ki-antwort-im-support-forum.avif "Automatisierte KI-Antwort im Support-Forum") That makes it immediately clear that the answer was created automatically. ## The problem: unanswered questions slow down every community A community thrives on things happening. New questions, new answers, additions, follow-up questions and discussions all show that there is life here. When a user asks a question and gets no reaction, frustration sets in quickly. The problem affects many forums, support areas and community platforms. Even when there are plenty of registered members, someone who can answer is not always online at that exact moment. Some questions are highly specific, others are simply worded too vaguely. Others again are seen, but nobody feels directly responsible. For the person asking, the outcome is always the same: nothing happens, at least at first. At PSD-Tutorials.de in particular, that is a shame, because many topics lend themselves very well to a discussion. They often revolve around practical problems: - How do I achieve a particular effect in Photoshop? - Why does a file not work as expected? - Which settings do I need for print? - How can I improve an image? - Which tool is suitable for a particular workflow? - How do I use AI sensibly in a creative process? Questions like these often have no single perfect answer. There is practical experience, several possible approaches and small details that can differ depending on the software version or the source material. That is exactly what a forum is ideally suited for. But a discussion has to start somewhere. ## The solution: an automated first answer when nobody responds Our solution is deliberately kept simple. Once an hour, Make.com looks into the PSD-Tutorials.de forum and checks whether there are new threads without a reply. The automation only becomes active if a thread has not yet received a reply. That is an important point. The AI is not meant to comment on every discussion. Nor should it push itself in front of the community. If a real member has already replied, the AI stays out of it. This creates a kind of safety net: 1. A user asks a question. 2. The community has time to answer first. 3. If there is still no reply at the next check, the AI writes an initial piece of help. 4. Other members can then still add to it, correct it or share their own experience. Ideally, this means the person asking never waits longer than around 60 minutes for a first response. At the same time, there is still enough room for human answers. That balance was exactly what mattered to us. ## The first step: creating an API key in XenForo Technically, the workflow starts in XenForo. For Make.com to access new threads and later create answers, an interface is needed. To that end, an API key is created in XenForo. This key is the connection between the forum and Make.com. Through it, the scenario can retrieve data and later publish an answer in the appropriate thread. With API keys like this, you should always work carefully. They are not a minor side detail. They govern what an external system is allowed to do. For production workflows you should therefore check: - Which permissions are genuinely needed? - Does the key need to be able to do everything, or is limited access enough? - Where is the key stored? - Who has access to it? - How can it be revoked if something does not go to plan? In our case, the API key was the technical foundation. After that, Make.com could communicate with XenForo via an HTTP module. ## A dedicated AI user: transparency instead of deception Before building the workflow, we created a new forum user: **Automated AI answer from PSD-Tutorials.de** From our point of view, that was an important step. When an AI answers in a forum, it should be clearly recognisable. We do not want to fake activity or make an answer look as though it came from a real community member. Transparency matters here for trust. The username makes it immediately clear: - The answer was created automatically. - It is meant to help, but it does not replace a human expert opinion. - Other members can still reply. - The community remains the real focal point. In a forum in particular, that matters. People should know who or what is answering them. A clearly named AI user is more honest than a bot that comes across as an ordinary member. ## Building it with Claude Cowork The way the scenario was built was particularly interesting. I did not build the automation by hand in the classic step-by-step way. Instead, I used Claude Cowork and had the scenario largely built in the browser. That shows very clearly how working with AI tools is changing. In the past you would have spent more time looking into API documentation yourself, testing endpoints, comparing parameters and building filters piece by piece. That still matters, but AI can now be an enormous help in configuring and structuring workflows like this. Claude Cowork helped assemble the Make.com scenario in the browser. That saves time and lowers the barrier to implementing more complex scenarios. Even so, the human remains responsible. Is the logic correct, are the right threads being found, and do only genuinely unanswered threads end up in the automation? Do the AI answers fit the forum in tone and content? That is exactly what you have to check before going live. AI helps with the build. Responsibility for quality and impact stays with the operator. ## How the [Make.com](http://make.com) scenario works The scenario consists of several steps. At its core, it works like this: 1. Make.com starts automatically every hour. 2. New forum threads are retrieved from XenForo via an HTTP request. 3. An iterator processes the threads it finds one by one. 4. For each thread, it checks whether replies already exist. 5. Only unanswered threads are passed on to the AI. 6. The AI creates a suitable first answer. 7. The answer is published via the API in the right forum thread. 8. Optionally, an email documents that an automated answer was created. ![Make-Szenario für ki-basierte Antworten im Support-Forum](https://4eck-media.de/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/automatisierte-antworten-diagramm-make-com.avif "Make-Szenario für ki-basierte Antworten im Support-Forum") The most important filter here is the check for unanswered threads. Without this filter, the automation would intervene too heavily in ongoing discussions. That is exactly what should not happen. The AI is not an additional commentator on every topic. It is a helper for the case where nobody else has responded. ## Why the check runs once an hour Technically, you could also run a scenario like this every few minutes. But that would not be ideal for a forum. If the AI answered immediately after a thread was created, real members would barely have a chance to help first. The forum would start to feel more like an AI support system and less like a community. The hourly check is therefore a good compromise. It gives members enough time to reply spontaneously. At the same time, the waiting time for the person asking is limited. Anyone who asks a question generally gets a first response within 60 minutes at most, provided nobody else has answered before then. This keeps the AI in the background. It steps in when help is needed. ## What the automated answer is meant to achieve The AI answer is not meant to pass itself off as a definitive expert solution. It should provide initial guidance and get the exchange started. A good automated first answer should be friendly, specific and cautious. It should address the question, name possible causes, suggest first steps and ask targeted follow-up questions where the details are unclear. With software questions in particular, important details are often missing. For example: - Which version of the program is being used? - Which operating system is in use? - Is there an error message? - Was a screenshot attached? - What has already been tried? - Does the problem always occur, or only in a particular file? The AI can ask about points like these and thereby give the thread structure. That helps the person asking straight away and makes it easier for other members to give a more precise answer later. So a fitting AI answer should read more like this: “That sounds like a problem that could be related to the settings or to the file. Check these points first. If that does not help, please upload a screenshot or tell us your program version, and it will be easier to narrow down.” That is helpful without being arrogant. This is exactly the kind of tone that suits an automated first answer. ## Why the community can benefit from it At first glance you might think: if an AI answers, you need less community. We see it differently. An unanswered question generates no discussion. A good first answer, by contrast, can be the starting point for one. Other members can then join in and add to it: - “Exactly, and you should also check this setting.” - “I would solve it differently.” - “In my case it came down to this cause.” - “Here is an example from my workflow.” - “The AI answer is a good start, but with Photoshop version XY you have to take a different approach.” In this way, the AI can spark a discussion that would otherwise never get going at all. For a forum that is valuable, because empty threads make a worse impression than threads with a first helpful response. Users feel seen, visitors recognise activity, and members have a basis on which to offer further help. ## Benefits for the person asking For the person asking, the benefit is very direct. A question does not simply sit there. Even if no member happens to reply, there is a first piece of help promptly. This can have several positive effects: - Users feel taken seriously, because someone responds at all. - They get first steps towards a solution that they can work with. - They learn which information is still missing for a more precise answer. - They are more likely to stay active in the forum instead of leaving in frustration. With technical problems in particular, that is valuable. Sometimes a small pointer is all it takes for someone to get further on their own. In other cases, the AI at least helps to sharpen the question. ## Benefits for PSD-Tutorials.de The workflow brings several benefits for PSD-Tutorials.de as well. The forum feels more active, because new threads less often go unanswered and people asking get a first response faster. As a result, individual questions are more likely to turn into real discussions, and over the long term the public body of knowledge grows. That is interesting from an SEO perspective too. Well-answered forum threads can later be found via search engines and help other users. With specific software problems in particular, people often search for exactly these kinds of questions. On top of that there is a practical benefit: the team does not have to keep checking whether new questions are still open. Make.com takes over the monitoring. That saves time and still ensures that nothing is left lying around permanently. ## Automation with a sense of proportion This workflow shows how we understand AI automation: as the answer to a specific problem, not as an end in itself. The problem is: new forum threads sometimes go unanswered. The solution is: if nobody has replied after a certain period, an AI creates a helpful first answer. That is clearly bounded, easy to follow and practical. This is exactly how many automations in companies should start: with a recurring problem that costs time every day or worsens the user experience, rather than with a huge all-in-one system. ## Quality assurance: why the prompt matters so much The quality of the AI answer depends heavily on the prompt. The AI has to know how it should answer and what limits apply. For a forum, rules like the following are important, for example: - Answer in a friendly and factual way. - Refer specifically to the topic. - Give practical first steps. - Ask follow-up questions when information is missing. - Avoid overstating certainty. - Do not invent details. - Do not write at too much length. - Invite other members to add further tips. The last point in particular is important. An automated answer should open the discussion up, not close it down. ![Das Make.com-Szenario als Diagramm für automatische KI-Antworten](https://4eck-media.de/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/open-ai-connection-ki-automatisierung.avif "Qualitätssicherung via Prompt mit Open-AI-Connection") You should also review the answers regularly in the early phase: do they sound fitting and helpful, or do they come across as too generic? Do they sometimes get too long, or do they go too far ahead on certain topics? Workflows like this get better the longer they run in real operation. You start with a good version and improve the prompt on the basis of real cases. ## Limits of the system Of course there are limits. An AI can misunderstand a question, offer only general pointers on highly specific topics, or fail to interpret missing files and screenshots correctly if these are not cleanly integrated into the workflow. The automated answer should therefore be understood as initial guidance. It is good for first pointers, structure, follow-up questions, typical solution steps and getting the discussion going. But it does not replace experienced members, moderation or real project experience. That is precisely why the workflow is built to serve only as a first answer. The community remains just as important as before. ## What companies can learn from this The principle behind this forum workflow can be transferred to many areas of a business. Wherever enquiries come in and can go unanswered, an automated first answer is conceivable. That could be in customer service, in sales, in recruiting, in internal knowledge bases or on learning platforms. A few examples: - **Support:** If a ticket is unanswered after a certain period, the AI creates a first response or asks for the missing information. - **Sales:** New enquiries are checked. If important details are missing, the AI automatically formulates a friendly follow-up question. - **HR:** Applications are summarised so the team can decide faster which candidates to examine more closely. - **Internal communication:** Employees ask questions in a knowledge area. If nobody answers, the AI provides first pointers from existing documents. - **E-learning:** Participants ask questions about course content. The AI gives a first piece of help and flags complex cases for trainers. - **Community management:** New comments, reviews or questions are collected and prepared with suggested replies. The setup is often similar: a system is checked at regular intervals, a condition triggers the workflow, the AI creates an answer or summary, and the result is published, stored or prepared for approval. ## Why we use workflows like this ourselves For us at 4eck Media, this project is also proof in practice: we use workflows like this ourselves instead of merely reporting on what is possible with AI automation. That is valuable for client projects. Because anyone who uses automations themselves knows the real questions: - How stable does the scenario run? - Which interfaces do you need? - How do you prevent duplicate actions? - Which filters are necessary? - How do you build sensible prompts? - When is human oversight needed? - How do you document the processes? - What happens when things go wrong? This experience feeds directly into client projects. We can better judge where automation really helps, where it should be limited and which processes are particularly well suited to it. ## Further possible extensions The current workflow is a good start. It could be expanded further later on. Conceivable options would include, for example: - **Answer logic by category:** A Photoshop question needs different pointers than a thread about web design, photography or AI. - **Taking attachments into account:** Screenshots could be factored into the answer more strongly, provided they are processed cleanly on the technical side. - **Notifying moderators:** Certain topics could additionally be reported to the team. - **Building FAQs from frequent questions:** Recurring topics could be collected automatically and turned into draft FAQs. - **Summaries of longer discussions:** When a thread has many replies, an AI could summarise the solution later on. The last idea in particular is exciting. In forums, the best solution is often buried somewhere in the middle of a long discussion. A summary could help a lot of users later on. ## Conclusion: AI as a helpful starting point for better discussions The automated forum answer on PSD-Tutorials.de shows how AI automation can be used practically and sensibly. The scenario is clearly bounded: it checks new threads once an hour and only answers if nobody has responded yet, through a transparent AI user. That way, people asking quickly get initial guidance without taking space away from the community. For us, this is a good example of automation with a sense of proportion. The AI is not meant to replace the community. It is meant to help ensure that questions do not go unnoticed and that discussions start more easily. Workflows exactly like this are becoming interesting for many companies, because almost every business has recurring processes where time is lost or users wait too long. If you identify these points and automate them sensibly, real added value emerges. We at 4eck Media use AI automations like this ourselves, test them in everyday work and keep developing them. We put that experience to use in supporting clients with workflows that genuinely save time, improve processes and make digital offerings feel more alive. ## FAQ: Automated AI answers in the forum with Make.com and XenForo Why does the AI not answer immediately? Because real members should have the first chance to answer. The scenario checks once an hour. That leaves enough time for human responses. Is every thread answered automatically? No. The automation only answers if a new thread has not yet received a reply. Why is there a dedicated AI user? So that it is transparent that the answer was created automatically. The name “Automated AI answer from PSD-Tutorials.de” makes that clear. Can the AI give wrong answers? Yes, that can happen. That is why the answer is intended as initial guidance. Members can still add to it or correct it. Does the AI replace the community? No. The AI is there to support the community. It ensures that unanswered questions get a first response. Why do you use Make.com? Make.com is well suited to connecting XenForo, OpenAI and HTTP requests in a single workflow. This makes it possible to implement processes like this quickly and flexibly. For simple tasks it is even free of charge. Can something like this be built for other systems too? Yes, provided a suitable interface is available. Similar workflows are conceivable for other forums, support systems, community platforms or internal knowledge bases. Can 4eck Media implement automations like this for clients? Yes. We develop workflows like this for our own projects and transfer our hands-on experience to client solutions.