Microsoft Responds to the Evolution of Online Communities

In article , "Jim Cone" wrote:

I agree with you and Bruce.
However...
the new Answers site could be a winner if it used the Ribbon. g

Aaarrrgghhh ! (I'm sure that was the response you were looking for ).

I worked out a few months ago why I hate the whole ribbon thing idea (it's
at the top and takes up valuable space where my stuff could be), so I asked
how to move it to the side of the window. Seemed like an easy thing ... but
no. Apparently, not only are there only 3 colour "schemes" (another pet hate
) ... but the ribon is fixed ! Inconceivable !

In article , "Bob Phillips" wrote:
That is a shame Ron, I have enjoyed your contributions. But MS don't care,
there will always be hundreds stepping up even if they aren't up to your
capabilities, and they have shown a blind indifference to those more capable
users amongst us.

Now *that* is an excellent point.

There are many helpful people here, many of them with the mystical 'MVP'
status.
Did MS ask anyone that is actually *in* this on line community what they
thought ?
I suspect not, but I look forward to hearing anyone say that this is not so
and that MS consulted widely before announcing these changes.

In article , Simon Lloyd wrote:

Nice thought but i was under the impression that these newsgroups will
be closed once the forums are settled. If they're still going to be
running then happy days

Yes, interseting point. I saw that MS said they would 'close' the groups ...
but AFAIK, most NNTP servers don't accept 'remove group' commands from
anyone except themselves. MS may find this more difficult to do thatn they
think (assuming they don't simply mean that they will take the NNTP
interface off their web site - that they can do).
Again, if MS did try to kill off the groups, there would be little to stop
people adding/creating them again.

Anyone got any more info on what MS really mean here ?

In article , "Bob Phillips" wrote:
I get there via my ISP. Eternal September has a free service, I don't know
if they would let you connect.

They let me, so I'd say the chances look good.

On 5/9/2010 7:16 PM, Bruce Sinclair wrote:
In , "T. wrote:
I pretty much agree with everything you said.

The best feature of NNTP ngs from my perspective is that it's very easy to
watch a thread for possible follow-ups.

I also like the speed and ease of access.

.. is it possible that this is an attempt by MS to kill off a 'text only'
application that doesn't fit with their apparent 'everything looks better in
html' approach ? An interesting possibility if so - and still wrong.


Everything looks better with ads?

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier
Peltier Technical Services, Inc.
http://peltiertech.com/

On 5/9/2010 7:40 PM, Bruce Sinclair wrote:
In , Simon wrote:

Nice thought but i was under the impression that these newsgroups will
be closed once the forums are settled. If they're still going to be
running then happy days

Yes, interseting point. I saw that MS said they would 'close' the groups ...
but AFAIK, most NNTP servers don't accept 'remove group' commands from
anyone except themselves. MS may find this more difficult to do thatn they
think (assuming they don't simply mean that they will take the NNTP
interface off their web site - that they can do).
Again, if MS did try to kill off the groups, there would be little to stop
people adding/creating them again.

Anyone got any more info on what MS really mean here ?


I think they mean they will simply turn off their own nntp servers. As
you say, they can't control the presence of these groups on the whole
nntp/usenet network.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier
Peltier Technical Services, Inc.
http://peltiertech.com/

In article , Jon Peltier wrote:

On 5/9/2010 7:16 PM, Bruce Sinclair wrote:
In , "T.
wrote:
I pretty much agree with everything you said.

The best feature of NNTP ngs from my perspective is that it's very easy to
watch a thread for possible follow-ups.

I also like the speed and ease of access.

.. is it possible that this is an attempt by MS to kill off a 'text only'
application that doesn't fit with their apparent 'everything looks better in
html' approach ? An interesting possibility if so - and still wrong.

Everything looks better with ads?

Ah. Perhaps my vision is faulty ?

In article , Jon Peltier wrote:
On 5/9/2010 7:40 PM, Bruce Sinclair wrote:
In , Simon
wrote:

Nice thought but i was under the impression that these newsgroups will
be closed once the forums are settled. If they're still going to be
running then happy days

Yes, interseting point. I saw that MS said they would 'close' the groups ...
but AFAIK, most NNTP servers don't accept 'remove group' commands from
anyone except themselves. MS may find this more difficult to do thatn they
think (assuming they don't simply mean that they will take the NNTP
interface off their web site - that they can do).
Again, if MS did try to kill off the groups, there would be little to stop
people adding/creating them again.

Anyone got any more info on what MS really mean here ?

I think they mean they will simply turn off their own nntp servers. As
you say, they can't control the presence of these groups on the whole
nntp/usenet network.

Quite. Well, if that really is what they mean, why didn't they just say so ?
Minor damage only if that's the case ... and in some ways, a good thing for
those of us here.

Thanks

Everything looks better when we control it!

--

HTH

Bob

"Jon Peltier" wrote in message
...

On 5/9/2010 7:16 PM, Bruce Sinclair wrote:
In , "T.
wrote:
I pretty much agree with everything you said.

The best feature of NNTP ngs from my perspective is that it's very easy
to
watch a thread for possible follow-ups.

I also like the speed and ease of access.

.. is it possible that this is an attempt by MS to kill off a 'text only'
application that doesn't fit with their apparent 'everything looks better
in
html' approach ? An interesting possibility if so - and still wrong.


Everything looks better with ads?

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier
Peltier Technical Services, Inc.
http://peltiertech.com/

Yeah, but Simon would want an automated facility to suck all of the posts
into his forum and post back.

--

HTH

Bob

"Bruce Sinclair" wrote
in message ...
In article , "Bob Phillips"
wrote:
I get there via my ISP. Eternal September has a free service, I don't know
if they would let you connect.

They let me, so I'd say the chances look good.