So what should an OP do if they want to post a question about
Programming?......just post it anywhere and let MS sort it out? as
in......
"Select the Best Forum
Select the forum that most closely matches your topic. (Don't worry, if it's
not the right one we'll move it for you.) "
Does this mean MS will read EVERY post and place it where they think it
should be, rather than where the OP posted it and will go to see if there
are any replies. And don't forget, the "Notify me" feature has not worked
for some time.
I started using Excel several years ago, and have progressed to be the GOTO
guy for Excel problems at the company I work for (over 1000 computers). I
have responded to thousands of posts in the Excel Newsgroups, earned a
Master MOUS certification on the side, and learned virtually everything I
know by coming to the various Newsgroups, especially the Excel Programming
Group. I have taught many others how to be better in excel and have
written many many Application Programs in Excel for my Users. Virtually all
of that use of Excel, by those dozens of folks, being a direct decendant of
MY time on the Newsgroups. So not only did the Newsgroups help ME learn,
that knowledge also rolled down hill to help many others. I am sad to see
the loss of my source of learning, and my opportunity to assist others fade
away.
I agree with Jim Thomlinson who says......
I like the way the news group works. It is simple and intuitive. The only
issues I have so far is that I don't want to lose the body of work that
exists in these forums. I often find myself searching for posts that I
read
long ago
Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3
"Jim Thomlinson" wrote in message
...
To expand on what I said...
I like the way the news group works. It is simple and intuitive. The only
issues I have so far is that I don't want to lose the body of work that
exists in these forums. I often find myself searching for posts that I
read
long ago. Secondly I am not sure that I like the new categories for XL.
Noteably the programming forum is gone. That being said the current
categories are not perfect either.
--
HTH...
Jim Thomlinson
"Jim Thomlinson" wrote:
I think I will try the new forum before I express an opinion on whether
it is
better or worse. Just my 2 cents.
--
HTH...
Jim Thomlinson
"Joe User" wrote:
wrote:
Starting in early summer 2010, Microsoft will begin
progressively closing down the Microsoft public newsgroups
to enrich conversations in the rapidly-growing forum
platform.
Translation: Microsoft will force people to use the web interface that
they
have maintained so poorly for years and that is the least reliable and
least
feature-rich interface for these "forums" that I am aware of.
Confirmation of that fact comes from the official Microsoft Newsgroup
website http://www.microsoft.com/communities...s/default.mspx.
In
the Q&A the
"Q: Where can I access these forums from?
http://www.microsoft.com/communities/forums/default.mspx"
The only potentially good thing to come out of this....
"Q: What should newsgroup users prepare for that will be different?
[....]
Additionally, Microsoft newsgroups are not moderated, while the forums
will
be."
But the operative word is "potentially".
First, Microsoft has demonstrated complete ineptitude in managing
"forums".
Their tools do not work. MS does not respond to problem reports. In
fact,
they do not even provide an effective way to report problems with
"forums".
Second, moderating a group is either highly labor-intensive or useless
(just
a pass-thru).
But if the moderation is real (and effective), that will mean that
postings
will incur delays.
Moreover, I have never heard of moderation done on a scale this large.
Consider the traffic in the m.p.excel newsgroups alone. Well, perhaps
Microsoft will depend on MVPs to be moderators.
Oh well....
----- original message -----
wrote in message
...
Date 5/4/2010
Starting in early summer 2010, Microsoft will begin progressively
closing
down the Microsoft public newsgroups to enrich conversations in the
rapidly-growing forum platform. This decision is in response to
worldwide
market trends and evolving customer needs.
Microsoft continues to invest in forums to reduce customer effort,
consolidate community venues and make it easier for active
contributors to
retain their influence. Forums provide a healthy community
environment
with less spam and make answers easier to find by customers and
search
engines. Additionally, forums offer a better user and off-topic
management platform that will improve customer satisfaction by
facilitating discussions in a clean space.
We understand that some newsgroups are still active, and important to
the
community. In the coming days and weeks, we will be rolling out
tools and
resources to minimize disruption to the community discussions.
We are working diligently on providing additional resources and
information in local languages later this week. In the meantime,
please
refer to the official Microsoft Newsgroup website
http://www.microsoft.com/communities...s/default.mspx
concerning
this issue. The Microsoft Newsgroup website will be made available
in
additional languages in the next few days.
.