Discussion:
Reminder - Microsoft Responds to the Evolution of Community
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Hironimus Potroast
2010-05-19 12:57:14 UTC
Permalink
Even with a widescreen that web interface is fupping awful. Up your bum,
Microsoft!

Shane
What is Happening?
This message is to inform you that Microsoft will soon begin discontinuing
newsgroups and transitioning users to Microsoft forums.
Why?
As you may know, newsgroups have existed for many years now; however, the
traffic in the Microsoft newsgroups has been steadily decreasing for the
past several years while customers and participants are increasingly
finding
solutions in the forums on Microsoft properties and third party sites.
This
move will unify the customer experience, centralize content, make it
easier
for active contributors to retain their influence, mitigate redundancies
and
make the content easier to find by customers and search engines through
improved indexing. Additionally, forums offer a better user and spam
management platform that will improve customer satisfaction by encouraging
a
healthy discussion in a clean community space. To this end, Microsoft
will
begin to progressively shift available resources to the forums technology
and discontinue support for newsgroups.
In addition to offering a compelling online browser experience, for those
users who prefer to use an NNTP (newsgroup) reader to participate in the
newsgroups community, we have developed a solution called the NNTP Bridge
which allows a user to connect a variety of supported NNTP readers to the
forums they would like to participate in and continue having the NTTP
reader
functionality. You can find instructions on how to download and set up
the
NNTP Bridge here: http://connect.microsoft.com/MicrosoftForums/
Which Newsgroups Are Affected by this Shutdown?
All public newsgroups will eventually be closed between June 1, 2010 and
October 1, 2010. Microsoft will be closing newsgroups in a phased
approach,
starting with the least active newsgroups and moving eventually to more
active ones throughout the course of the next six months.
When will this Happen?
Effective June 1, 2010 this newsgroup will be closed.
Where Should I go with the Closure of this Newsgroup?
Microsoft has a large selection of forums, many of which cover either the
same or closely related technologies to the ones found in the newsgroups.
The forums have seen amazing growth and are an excellent place to continue
the discussion. We recommend that you start with
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/group/WindowsAnswers
Should you want to visit the other Microsoft Forums, please go to
http://www.microsoft.com/communities/forums/default.mspx
Who Should I Contact with any Questions?
Send any questions about the process, recommended forums and timing to
Noel Paton
2010-05-19 13:36:17 UTC
Permalink
Have you tried using the NNTP Bridge, Shane?
The latest incarnation is at least usable, if not great.
--
Noel Paton
CrashFixPC

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
www.crashfixpc.co.uk
Shane
2010-05-19 19:41:55 UTC
Permalink
Post by Noel Paton
Have you tried using the NNTP Bridge, Shane?
The latest incarnation is at least usable, if not great.
Gave up on it, Noel. What a pita to set up! I don't want to do enough to
jump through all their hoops. By the time it came to setting a password I
wanted "fuckableedinduck" - but that was too long! Even "fuck4Duck" wasn't
good enough on account of not having a character. Jeez, like I give a flying
one if someone hacks that account! I'd have liked to at least try it to see
if I agreed with you.

Shane
Corday
2010-05-19 20:58:03 UTC
Permalink
And immediately after giving these wonderful links MS posted this:
Forums and Profile for Microsoft, MSDN, TechNet, Answers, and Expression
sites will be intermittently offline from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. (PDT) on
May 21, 2010, for system upgrades. During this time, users will not be able
to access the sites or may experience intermittent error messages. We
apologize in advance for the inconvenience.
--
Fortune favors the bold.
Shane
2010-05-19 21:14:42 UTC
Permalink
Yeah, those were pissing me off plenty, too. What with doing it from Firefox
and wondering if despite the NNTP Bridge supposedly working with
Thunderbird, perhaps you couldn't register via Firefox (???).


Shane
Post by Corday
Forums and Profile for Microsoft, MSDN, TechNet, Answers, and Expression
sites will be intermittently offline from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. (PDT) on
May 21, 2010, for system upgrades. During this time, users will not be able
to access the sites or may experience intermittent error messages. We
apologize in advance for the inconvenience.
--
Fortune favors the bold.
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