Microsoft Responds to the Evolution of Online Communities
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From: nntp on 4 May 2010 16:34 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/newsgroups/default.mspx concerning this issue. The Microsoft Newsgroup website will be made available in additional languages in the next few days.
From: Yves Dhondt on 5 May 2010 13:42 Although this probably is an automated message and questions won't be answered, I'm still going to try one: Will there be any API (like the NNTP protocol) allowing the development of 3rd party tools to access the forums? Because accessing forums through a browser is just slow and not nearly as customizable as the current setup. If there were some kind of API, I'm sure some smart programmer could come up with a decent user-friendly interface for people who mostly respond to questions rather than asking them. Yves <nntp(a)microsoft.com> wrote in message news:OXOFtPA7KHA.420(a)TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl... > 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/newsgroups/default.mspx concerning > this issue. The Microsoft Newsgroup website will be made available in > additional languages in the next few days. >
From: Suzanne S. Barnhill on 5 May 2010 16:24 Microsoft has created a "bridge" that allows users to access the forums with a newsreader. I'm not sure they're ready to announce it publicly, but if you google for "NNTP bridge," you will find more information. Since the first hit is http://connect.microsoft.com/MicrosoftForums, I don't think MS can keep the wraps on this much longer. (Although the information is widely available, I'm not sure the software is publicly available yet.) -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA http://word.mvps.org "Yves Dhondt" <yves.dhondt(a)gmail.com> wrote in message news:OdKuPpH7KHA.4508(a)TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl... > Although this probably is an automated message and questions won't be > answered, I'm still going to try one: > > Will there be any API (like the NNTP protocol) allowing the development of > 3rd party tools to access the forums? > > Because accessing forums through a browser is just slow and not nearly as > customizable as the current setup. If there were some kind of API, I'm > sure some smart programmer could come up with a decent user-friendly > interface for people who mostly respond to questions rather than asking > them. > > Yves > > <nntp(a)microsoft.com> wrote in message > news:OXOFtPA7KHA.420(a)TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl... >> 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/newsgroups/default.mspx concerning >> this issue. The Microsoft Newsgroup website will be made available in >> additional languages in the next few days. >> >
From: Gordon on 6 May 2010 02:32 "Suzanne S. Barnhill" <sbarnhill(a)mvps.org> wrote in message news:eWaKEHJ7KHA.4208(a)TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl... >(Although the information is widely available, I'm not sure the software >is publicly available yet.) > From the Forums FAQ: https://connect.microsoft.com/site/sitehome.aspx?SiteID=927&wa=wsignin1.0
From: Gordon on 6 May 2010 02:37
"Gordon" <gordon.burgessparker(a)hotmail.co.uk> wrote in message news:uvcwtXO7KHA.604(a)TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl... > > "Suzanne S. Barnhill" <sbarnhill(a)mvps.org> wrote in message > news:eWaKEHJ7KHA.4208(a)TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl... > >>(Although the information is widely available, I'm not sure the software >>is publicly available yet.) >> > > From the Forums FAQ: > https://connect.microsoft.com/site/sitehome.aspx?SiteID=927&wa=wsignin1.0 > > And in fact there's even a discussion group: https://connect.microsoft.com/MicrosoftForums/community/discussion/richui/default.aspx |