Why are a number of the newsgroups disappearing?
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From: John McGaw on 18 Jul 2010 15:07 On 7/17/2010 5:43 AM, sheana wrote: > Hi, > > I subscribe to a number of MS newsgroups, but, for example, when I > clicked on the newsgroup for word.general I got a message that that > newsgroup was not available from the MS server. Is MS phasing out the > communities/newsgroups? Let me know, because I find them incredibly > helpful. Thanks in advance. MS has announced the shutdown multiple times in every one of their newsgroups AFAIK. Yes, they are shutting down. A little bit annoying but at least it will kill the trolls...
From: Ken Blake, MVP on 18 Jul 2010 16:42 On Sun, 18 Jul 2010 15:07:37 -0400, John McGaw <nowhere(a)at.all> wrote: > On 7/17/2010 5:43 AM, sheana wrote: > > Hi, > > > > I subscribe to a number of MS newsgroups, but, for example, when I > > clicked on the newsgroup for word.general I got a message that that > > newsgroup was not available from the MS server. Is MS phasing out the > > communities/newsgroups? Let me know, because I find them incredibly > > helpful. Thanks in advance. > > MS has announced the shutdown multiple times in every one of their > newsgroups AFAIK. Yes, they are shutting down. A little bit annoying but at > least it will kill the trolls... Several points: 1. Although Microsoft is shutting down the newsgroups on *their* news servers, that does not mean the newsgroups cease to exist. They continue to be available on the many other news servers around the world that echoes them. Here are three free ones where they can be found: aioe.org new.eternal-september.org news.albasani.net The volume of posts has decreased and will very likely continue to decrease, but that's not the same as the newsgroups disappearing. 2. Microsoft has replaced the newsgroups with web-based forums. As far as I'm concerned, they are greatly inferior to the newsgroups, but at least there is something. 3. It is possible to participate in the web-based forums using your newsreader, using NNTP bridge software. Microsoft has some that's available, but I prefer this one: http://communitybridge.codeplex.com/ I participate in the forums that way. In my view, it's far from perfect, but it's much faster and greatly preferable to using the forums directly. 4. Trolling in the old sense is largely gone from the forums, however instead we now have messages complaining to Microsoft about this or that. Many people don't realize that the forums are peer support forums, like the newsgroups were, and they think they are addressing Microsoft directly. So we now have a new kind of nonsense instead of the old kind. -- Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003 Please Reply to the Newsgroup
From: milt on 18 Jul 2010 16:54 On 7/17/2010 4:43 AM, sheana wrote: > Hi, > > I subscribe to a number of MS newsgroups, but, for example, when I > clicked on the newsgroup for word.general I got a message that that > newsgroup was not available from the MS server. Is MS phasing out the > communities/newsgroups? Let me know, because I find them incredibly > helpful. Thanks in advance. Because Microsoft is lame and getting rid of newsgroup support and instead trying to force people to their lame forums. Yes, many find them helpful but MS doesn't care.
From: milt on 18 Jul 2010 17:11 On 7/18/2010 3:42 PM, Ken Blake, MVP wrote: > Several points: > > 1. Although Microsoft is shutting down the newsgroups on *their* news > servers, that does not mean the newsgroups cease to exist. They > continue to be available on the many other news servers around the > world that echoes them. Here are three free ones where they can be > found: > > aioe.org > new.eternal-september.org > news.albasani.net > > The volume of posts has decreased and will very likely continue to > decrease, but that's not the same as the newsgroups disappearing. > I just checked eternal-september (been using it for months) and they do NOT seem to carry any of the microsoft.public.* hierarchy. I don't know about aioe.org or news.albasani.net > > 2. Microsoft has replaced the newsgroups with web-based forums. As far > as I'm concerned, they are greatly inferior to the newsgroups, but at > least there is something. > Greatly inferior and you trade trolls for tons of repetitive posts you can't filter out to get to anything useful. > 3. It is possible to participate in the web-based forums using your > newsreader, using NNTP bridge software. Microsoft has some that's > available, but I prefer this one: http://communitybridge.codeplex.com/ > > I participate in the forums that way. In my view, it's far from > perfect, but it's much faster and greatly preferable to using the > forums directly. > > 4. Trolling in the old sense is largely gone from the forums, however > instead we now have messages complaining to Microsoft about this or > that. Many people don't realize that the forums are peer support > forums, like the newsgroups were, and they think they are addressing > Microsoft directly. So we now have a new kind of nonsense instead of > the old kind. > > > >
From: Alias on 18 Jul 2010 18:56
On 7/18/2010 11:11 PM, milt wrote: > On 7/18/2010 3:42 PM, Ken Blake, MVP wrote: >> Several points: >> >> 1. Although Microsoft is shutting down the newsgroups on *their* news >> servers, that does not mean the newsgroups cease to exist. They >> continue to be available on the many other news servers around the >> world that echoes them. Here are three free ones where they can be >> found: >> >> aioe.org >> new.eternal-september.org >> news.albasani.net >> >> The volume of posts has decreased and will very likely continue to >> decrease, but that's not the same as the newsgroups disappearing. >> > I just checked eternal-september (been using it for months) and they do > NOT seem to carry any of the microsoft.public.* hierarchy. I don't know > about aioe.org or news.albasani.net I'm posting from eternal-september. Try refreshing the newsgroups before you search. -- Alias |