On Sat, 31 Jan 2004 09:08:12 -0700, JE McGimpsey
wrote:
Hank -
From what I've seen, ExcelForum is a far more capable web interface than
Microsoft's. (Note: I don't use ExcelForum, and never have)
JE,
I take all of your points below, but that ain't my grumble.
ExcelForum is clealy a very, VERY commercial site. (Find a page on the
site which ISN'T plastered with ads.) Usenet, on the other hand, is
very, VERY community oriented. When I answer someone's question (or
you do, or Dave does, or Norman does, or...) then the answer is NOT
"From Excel Tip.com" as the header of the browser window would
suggest. All ExcelTip.com is doing is repackaging content that comes
from elsewhere, and is provided by the likes of thee and me on a
non-commercial basis. And although they DO mention that the posts
"will be propogated to usenet", IMHO they're just not making it clear
enough that:
- Usenet is NOT brought to you by John Rubin's "leading source" of
Excel information and
- The "Forum" is just one way of getting posts into Usenet and
reading them from Usenet. It's NOT Excel Tip.com's own forum, just a
portal to something else which is quite independent of their site; and
the vast, OVERWHELMING, majority of the content has never been created
through that site.
Now that doesn't mean that I'm waving a red flag from the barricades
and chanting "No commercial content on Usenet!!!" or anything; far
from it. There are a lot of people (like, say, Chip or Stephen Bullen)
who put bread on their tables through Excel consulting work and their
sites (which are often pointed to in Usenet posts) obviously promote
their services. I also recall one thread in which a poster asked about
setting up their own consulting business; the poster asked how they
could establish a name for themselves. A reply suggested that posting
on Usenet was one way. I have no problem with this. The big
difference, the HUGE difference is that Chip and Stephen and whoever
else aren't packaging up other people's content (including mine) on
their sites and calling it their own "Forum". Click on my name in the
forum, and Excel Tip will advise that "This user has not registered".
That's right; because "This user" is NOT, in fact, an Excel Tip.com
user.
I'm not suggesting that Excel Tip.com is blatantly misrepresenting
anything, and the automatic notification when a reply comes in is
clearly a useful "value adding" service. (Spam protecting the address,
maybe not so much; the MS site does advise you of how to spam protect
your address, and it's not exactly rocket science or even pivot tables
come to that.) I DO, however, feel that they're sailing a little close
to the wind on this point and should be making it clearer that the
"Forum" is a portal (granted, with a few extra bells and whistles as
you list below) to EXTERNAL content, and (in CONTENT terms), very
little more than that. JMHO.
For one thing, it automatically spam-protects user's addresses, which
MS's doesn't.
It also sends an email to the OP when a reply has been posted, which MS
doesn't. Anyone can subscribe to a thread to see updates.
It's more standards compliant, and doesn't leave half the screen blank
when displaying a message list (in the Safari browser, at least, the
message "loading selected newsgroup" is displayed in the bottom half of
MS's interface even after the group is loaded).
It has more options for sorting and displaying messages than MS's.
It's just as free as Microsoft's news server or web portal.
I also find it a more attractive interface (while orange isn't my
favorite color, MS's institutional blue turns me off as cold).
ExcelForum started out a bit rocky (you can do a Google search to see
some previous comments), but Mr. Rubin and his organization have taken a
number of steps to fit in with the gestalt of the Excel newsgroups.
While I prefer a newsreader myself, for the infrequent poster or newbie,
I suspect it's far and away superior to having to learn a new technology
(i.e., a newsreader, newsservers, etc, which, for some, is a significant
hurdle).
In article ,
Hank Scorpio wrote:
My recommendation would be to get a newsreader, which will allow you
to download all or any of the newsgroup content directly. But if you
still prefer a web interface, Microsoft provides one as well; one
which interfaces not just to Excel groups, but to all of the Microsoft
groups including Access ones. You'll find it he
http://support.microsoft.com/newsgroups/
---------------------------------------------------------
Hank Scorpio
scorpionet who hates spam is at iprimus.com.au (You know what to do.)
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