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Microsoft Responds to the Evolution of Online Communities

Author
4 May 2010 7:34 PM
nntp
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.

Author
5 May 2010 2:44 AM
Armin Zingler
Am 04.05.2010 21:34, schrieb n***@microsoft.com:
> 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.

What is the word "Verschlimmbesserung" in your language? Don't know how to translate.
Anyways guys, GLHF on your own way! We'll see which one will be the lonesome one.

Thank you, and good night!


Armin
PS: Which linux distribution can you recommend?
Author
5 May 2010 2:55 AM
Family Tree Mike
On 5/4/2010 10:44 PM, Armin Zingler wrote:
Show quoteHide quote
> Am 04.05.2010 21:34, schrieb n***@microsoft.com:
>> 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.
>
> What is the word "Verschlimmbesserung" in your language? Don't know how to translate.
> Anyways guys, GLHF on your own way! We'll see which one will be the lonesome one.
>
> Thank you, and good night!
>
>
> Armin
> PS: Which linux distribution can you recommend?

I think the translation is "Make worse".  My last German class was
"Zwanzig Jarhen" ago though...

It might be time to log into StackOverflow.com...

--
Mike
Author
5 May 2010 11:23 AM
Armin Zingler
Am 05.05.2010 04:55, schrieb Family Tree Mike:
>> What is the word "Verschlimmbesserung" in your language? Don't know how to translate.

> I think the translation is "Make worse".  My last German class was
> "Zwanzig Jarhen" ago though...

Hi Mike,

yeah, "make worse while trying to make it better"
hey world out there: If it's fine, keep it. Don't make "improvements" like the
different approaches of online help, I mean F1-help. Every version got slower
and worse to handle - the current version is ridiculous. Sorry guys. Anyhow
your company is getting outta control. Believe me.


--
Armin
Author
5 May 2010 3:11 AM
Tom Shelton
On 2010-05-05, Armin Zingler <az.nospam@freenet.de> wrote:
Show quoteHide quote
> Am 04.05.2010 21:34, schrieb n***@microsoft.com:
>> 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.
>
> What is the word "Verschlimmbesserung" in your language? Don't know how to translate.
> Anyways guys, GLHF on your own way! We'll see which one will be the lonesome one.
>
> Thank you, and good night!
>

While the web interface isn't completely horrid - it's still not nntp.  It
will be sorely missed.

>
> Armin
> PS: Which linux distribution can you recommend?

Gentoo is my personal favorite.  Though, I've started using Debian on one of
my servers and I have an Android development vm setup using Ubuntu....

--
Tom Shelton
Author
5 May 2010 11:07 AM
Cor Ligthert[MVP]
Tom,

In fact I miss in the forums only the possibility to view in a quick way who
has responded. There is not a treeview like in a newsgroup. I assume they
did their best to make it the same, but have never looked to an Outlook
equivalent newsreader (I assume that you as forum participator understands
what I want to say). It makes that most forums threads become quick like
thrash.

In my idea would the contributors in this forums (Especially Armin which is
probably with you one of the long-time ones) should once try the English
Visual Basic Forum general.
Also to my surprise I recognised more than a year ago it is less bad as it
has been in past, and some features are really better than in the
newsgroups.

There are some contributors in the forums which are equal to the
contributors in this newsgroup, although it is in my idea not in a way like
this newsgroup was in past, when it was still easy to visit.

Cor


Show quoteHide quote
"Tom Shelton" <tom_shel***@comcastXXXXXXX.net> wrote in message
news:uwziqCA7KHA.5848@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> On 2010-05-05, Armin Zingler <az.nospam@freenet.de> wrote:
>> Am 04.05.2010 21:34, schrieb n***@microsoft.com:
>>> 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.
>>
>> What is the word "Verschlimmbesserung" in your language? Don't know how
>> to translate.
>> Anyways guys, GLHF on your own way! We'll see which one will be the
>> lonesome one.
>>
>> Thank you, and good night!
>>
>
> While the web interface isn't completely horrid - it's still not nntp.  It
> will be sorely missed.
>
>>
>> Armin
>> PS: Which linux distribution can you recommend?
>
> Gentoo is my personal favorite.  Though, I've started using Debian on one
> of
> my servers and I have an Android development vm setup using Ubuntu....
>
> --
> Tom Shelton
Author
5 May 2010 1:30 PM
Herfried K. Wagner [MVP]
Am 05.05.2010 13:07, schrieb Cor Ligthert[MVP]:
> In fact I miss in the forums only the possibility to view in a quick way
> who has responded. There is not a treeview like in a newsgroup. I assume
> they did their best to make it the same, but have never looked to an
> Outlook equivalent newsreader (I assume that you as forum participator
> understands what I want to say). It makes that most forums threads
> become quick like thrash.

I miss the /speed/ known from the newsgroups.  In the newsgroups, I can
click on a message and it gets displayed instantly.  That's not the case
in the forums, where I have to wait until the whole layout crap is
loaded.  Well, I miss the treeview too.

--
  M S   Herfried K. Wagner
M V P  <URL:http://dotnet.mvps.org/>
  V B   <URL:http://dotnet.mvps.org/dotnet/faqs/>
Author
5 May 2010 11:11 AM
Armin Zingler
Am 05.05.2010 05:11, schrieb Tom Shelton:
>> Thank you, and good night!
>>
>
> While the web interface isn't completely horrid - it's still not nntp.  It
> will be sorely missed.

The announcement was one of those moments: What? Did I ask for that? I don't
need a change. Everything's fine. I can add attachments to every posting
if you want it. And I will switch to HTML and insert pictures if you think
nntp is bad. It's slim, fast and it fulfils all my needs. I don't want to
wait for slow servers producing http overhead and colored pictures. Let
me start yawning in advance right now...

>> Armin
>> PS: Which linux distribution can you recommend?
>
> Gentoo is my personal favorite.  Though, I've started using Debian on one of
> my servers and I have an Android development vm setup using Ubuntu....

Thx! :-)

Well,,, I was pretty...pissed yesterday?! (OMG 8-o ) Put in more diplomatic
words: I'm not a militant MSFT basher but there are several developments
that makes me more and more not being one of these magic customers that
MSFT pretends to work for. I also didn't ask them to remove the MDI interface
in VS 2010. Suddenly gone. Oops, one customer lost. And BTW, I don't like
Win7.

But who am I? Just not one of the "community" anymore - as it seems.

OT, sorry sorry...

(Would this posting be deleted by a private-forum moderator?)

--
Armin
Author
5 May 2010 1:32 PM
Cor Ligthert[MVP]
"Armin Zingler"

>> While the web interface isn't completely horrid - it's still not nntp.
>> It
>> will be sorely missed.
>
> The announcement was one of those moments: What? Did I ask for that? I
> don't
> need a change. Everything's fine. I can add attachments to every posting
> if you want it. And I will switch to HTML and insert pictures if you think
> nntp is bad. It's slim, fast and it fulfils all my needs. I don't want to
> wait for slow servers producing http overhead and colored pictures. Let
> me start yawning in advance right now...
>
Which images, it is much easier to attach images in this message than in a
forum.

But I never do (did) that so I don't miss it.

In past there was always someone who complained about speed, so I don't do
that.
>
> Well,,, I was pretty...pissed yesterday?! (OMG 8-o ) Put in more
> diplomatic
> words: I'm not a militant MSFT basher but there are several developments
> that makes me more and more not being one of these magic customers that
> MSFT pretends to work for. I also didn't ask them to remove the MDI
> interface
> in VS 2010. Suddenly gone. Oops, one customer lost. And BTW, I don't like
> Win7.

I just tried a MDI and it is still there, I've seen no changed until now
beside the ones you've showed.

>
> But who am I? Just not one of the "community" anymore - as it seems.
>
>
> (Would this posting be deleted by a private-forum moderator?)
>
No for sure not.

(I'm not a forum moderator probably like you I don't want to be that (Ken
Tucker is) but what I've seen in the weekend in the VB Express forum I've
never seen in a Microsoft Newsgroup, and it is not deleted, only replaced
and locked for more answers)

But you could expect what happens now, last years it was almost impossible
to reach these newsgroups (I'm not saying that was not by accident, but the
time before we saw actions took always extremely long).

It seem now already a while again solved.
Author
5 May 2010 4:04 PM
Armin Zingler
Am 05.05.2010 15:32, schrieb Cor Ligthert[MVP]:
>
> [...]

ACK

> I just tried a MDI and it is still there, I've seen no changed until now
> beside the ones you've showed.

You mean creating an MDI form? I mean menu Tools -> Options: Environment -> window layout: MDI.

--
Armin
Author
5 May 2010 4:18 PM
Cor Ligthert[MVP]
Armin,

I did not even know it did exist, seems I've long time missed something.

So I was not aware they removed it.
Maybe that was the reason I had always trouble with the menus with MDI.

Also nobody seen writing about this who was using betas

Cor


Show quoteHide quote
"Armin Zingler" <az.nospam@freenet.de> wrote in message
news:edeSbzG7KHA.3184@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> Am 05.05.2010 15:32, schrieb Cor Ligthert[MVP]:
>>
>> [...]
>
> ACK
>
>> I just tried a MDI and it is still there, I've seen no changed until now
>> beside the ones you've showed.
>
> You mean creating an MDI form? I mean menu Tools -> Options:
> Environment -> window layout: MDI.
>
> --
> Armin
>
Author
5 May 2010 4:49 PM
Tom Shelton
On 2010-05-05, Cor Ligthert[MVP] <Notmyfirstn***@planet.nl> wrote:
> Armin,
>
> I did not even know it did exist, seems I've long time missed something.
>
> So I was not aware they removed it.
> Maybe that was the reason I had always trouble with the menus with MDI.
>
> Also nobody seen writing about this who was using betas
>

Cor - Like you, I'm not sure many people actually realized that you could opt
for a mdi style interface in VS rather then the tabbed interface - which is
probably why there has been little to no discussion around it's removal.

I am actually not suprised it's gone though - VS2010 uses wpf for the
interface rendering.  Currently, wpf does not support MDI interfaces.

--
Tom Shelton
Author
5 May 2010 4:46 PM
Tom Shelton
On 2010-05-05, Armin Zingler <az.nospam@freenet.de> wrote:
Show quoteHide quote
> Am 05.05.2010 05:11, schrieb Tom Shelton:
>>> Thank you, and good night!
>>>
>>
>> While the web interface isn't completely horrid - it's still not nntp.  It
>> will be sorely missed.
>
> The announcement was one of those moments: What? Did I ask for that? I don't
> need a change. Everything's fine. I can add attachments to every posting
> if you want it. And I will switch to HTML and insert pictures if you think
> nntp is bad. It's slim, fast and it fulfils all my needs. I don't want to
> wait for slow servers producing http overhead and colored pictures. Let
> me start yawning in advance right now...
>

I agree for the most part.  I am not a huge fan of web forums.  I do
participate on the MS forums occasionally.   But, I vastly prefer to use the
simple text interface of nntp.

Show quoteHide quote
>>> Armin
>>> PS: Which linux distribution can you recommend?
>>
>> Gentoo is my personal favorite.  Though, I've started using Debian on one of
>> my servers and I have an Android development vm setup using Ubuntu....
>
> Thx! :-)
>
> Well,,, I was pretty...pissed yesterday?! (OMG 8-o ) Put in more diplomatic
> words: I'm not a militant MSFT basher but there are several developments
> that makes me more and more not being one of these magic customers that
> MSFT pretends to work for. I also didn't ask them to remove the MDI interface
> in VS 2010. Suddenly gone. Oops, one customer lost. And BTW, I don't like
> Win7.
>

I'm not a user of the MDI interface, so I didn't notice it being gone from
2010.  But, that makes sense.  WPF doesn't support MDI - and VS2010's
interface is written using WPF.  It is always frustrating to loose
functionality :(

I can't agree on win7 though.  I've been using it for sometime - and I like it
a lot :)

> But who am I? Just not one of the "community" anymore - as it seems.
>
> OT, sorry sorry...
>
> (Would this posting be deleted by a private-forum moderator?)
>

I guess it depends, I really don't know what the moderators will or will not
delete.

--
Tom Shelton
Author
6 May 2010 5:22 PM
Chris Dunaway
On May 5, 6:11 am, Armin Zingler <az.nos***@freenet.de> wrote:
> MSFT pretends to work for. I also didn't ask them to remove the MDI interface
> in VS 2010. Suddenly gone. Oops, one customer lost. And BTW, I don't like

Could you explain what you see as advantages of the MDI interface?
Like the others, I have not used it so its removal went unnoticed by
me.

By the way, did you know that VS2010 has support for multiple
monitors?  Just drag any tab (window) out of VS to another monitor.

Chris
Author
6 May 2010 6:05 PM
Armin Zingler
Am 06.05.2010 19:22, schrieb Chris Dunaway:
> On May 5, 6:11 am, Armin Zingler <az.nos***@freenet.de> wrote:
>> MSFT pretends to work for. I also didn't ask them to remove the MDI interface
>> in VS 2010. Suddenly gone. Oops, one customer lost. And BTW, I don't like
>
> Could you explain what you see as advantages of the MDI interface?
> Like the others, I have not used it so its removal went unnoticed by
> me.

I feel handicapped if I can't move the windows around because they
are glued and maximized. One habbit working with MDI for so many years
is klicking the 'restore' button, but it's not there. It's a matter
of course for me, therefore it's missing.

If I undock the windows, I can move them as I want but they are covering
the docked windows, so that's also not an option.

I feel limited with the tabbed windows. Like some sheets of papers
that I'm forced to keep stacked on my desktop without being allowed
to distribute them freely.

> By the way, did you know that VS2010 has support for multiple
> monitors?  Just drag any tab (window) out of VS to another monitor.

Only one 30" monitor fits on my desktop.


--
Armin
Author
7 May 2010 4:51 PM
Chris Dunaway
On May 6, 1:05 pm, Armin Zingler <az.nos***@freenet.de> wrote:
> Am 06.05.2010 19:22, schrieb Chris Dunaway:
>
> Only one 30" monitor fits on my desktop.
>

Sounds like a good excuse to get a bigger desk and another 30"
monitor!!! :)

Chris
Author
8 May 2010 12:11 PM
Armin Zingler
Am 07.05.2010 18:51, schrieb Chris Dunaway:
>> Only one 30" monitor fits on my desktop.
>>
>
> Sounds like a good excuse to get a bigger desk and another 30"
> monitor!!! :)

Sure, just for VS! ;-)


You don't share my MDI opinion? All you can do with the tabbed
interface can be done with MDI, but not the other way round. Even
if you don't make use of the MDI advantages, I don't understand
why they are taken away from me.

--
Armin
Author
8 May 2010 2:49 PM
Tom Shelton
On 2010-05-08, Armin Zingler <az.nospam@freenet.de> wrote:
Show quoteHide quote
> Am 07.05.2010 18:51, schrieb Chris Dunaway:
>>> Only one 30" monitor fits on my desktop.
>>>
>>
>> Sounds like a good excuse to get a bigger desk and another 30"
>> monitor!!! :)
>
> Sure, just for VS! ;-)
>
>
> You don't share my MDI opinion? All you can do with the tabbed
> interface can be done with MDI, but not the other way round. Even
> if you don't make use of the MDI advantages, I don't understand
> why they are taken away from me.
>

Because VS2010 is written using WPF - WPF does not support mdi, therefore, no
MDI in vs2010.

--
Tom Shelton
Author
8 May 2010 3:13 PM
Armin Zingler
Am 08.05.2010 16:49, schrieb Tom Shelton:
> Because VS2010 is written using WPF - WPF does not support mdi, therefore, no
> MDI in vs2010.

This means that WPF is not an option for my applications, too. ;-)



--
Armin
Author
8 May 2010 5:31 PM
Tom Shelton
On 2010-05-08, Armin Zingler <az.nospam@freenet.de> wrote:
> Am 08.05.2010 16:49, schrieb Tom Shelton:
>> Because VS2010 is written using WPF - WPF does not support mdi, therefore, no
>> MDI in vs2010.
>
> This means that WPF is not an option for my applications, too. ;-)

Well, if you feel the need to use MDI then I guess not.  But, in case you
haven't noticed - mdi has long fallen out of fashion.  It's very rare to see
new software with an MDI interface.

--
Tom Shelton
Author
8 May 2010 6:17 PM
Family Tree Mike
On 5/8/2010 1:31 PM, Tom Shelton wrote:
> On 2010-05-08, Armin Zingler<az.nospam@freenet.de>  wrote:
>> Am 08.05.2010 16:49, schrieb Tom Shelton:
>>> Because VS2010 is written using WPF - WPF does not support mdi, therefore, no
>>> MDI in vs2010.
>>
>> This means that WPF is not an option for my applications, too. ;-)
>
> Well, if you feel the need to use MDI then I guess not.  But, in case you
> haven't noticed - mdi has long fallen out of fashion.  It's very rare to see
> new software with an MDI interface.
>

Which is why I know a lot of people are keeping their copies of Office
2003.  Many consider Access 2007 is a beast to them with the "improved"
interface.

--
Mike
Author
8 May 2010 7:00 PM
Armin Zingler
Am 08.05.2010 19:31, schrieb Tom Shelton:
> On 2010-05-08, Armin Zingler <az.nospam@freenet.de> wrote:
>> Am 08.05.2010 16:49, schrieb Tom Shelton:
>>> Because VS2010 is written using WPF - WPF does not support mdi, therefore, no
>>> MDI in vs2010.
>>
>> This means that WPF is not an option for my applications, too. ;-)
>
> Well, if you feel the need to use MDI then I guess not.  But, in case you
> haven't noticed - mdi has long fallen out of fashion.  It's very rare to see
> new software with an MDI interface.

Yes, unfortunatelly.

I remember many people complaining about Office 2000 not being able to switch
to MDI or at least to get rid of all the taskbar buttons for each open document.

What's better with tabbed windows? Only that you can move a window to another
screen? From my own experience, a dual screen setup (or any even number of screens)
is a bad compromise. Hardly anyone has more of them. Anyway, if you maximize the
IDE - who doesn't do this? - you can move the MDI windows anywhere on both screens,
too. So I don't see any advantage of tabbed windows. Only a limitation.

--
Armin
Author
8 May 2010 5:11 PM
Robert Roland
On Tue, 04 May 2010 20:11:32 -0700, Tom Shelton
<tom_shel***@comcastXXXXXXX.net> wrote:

>While the web interface isn't completely horrid - it's still not nntp.  It
>will be sorely missed.

The biggest problem with web forums is the decentralization. With
Usenet, there was always one single database for everything. With web
servers, you have to connect to a myriad of different servers to keep
up with your various subjects of interest.

How hard would it be to implement an NNTP interface in the web forum
server software? I can't imagine it would take a lot of effort.
--
RoRo
Author
8 May 2010 5:30 PM
Tom Shelton
On 2010-05-08, Robert Roland <f***@ddress.no> wrote:
> On Tue, 04 May 2010 20:11:32 -0700, Tom Shelton
><tom_shel***@comcastXXXXXXX.net> wrote:
>
>>While the web interface isn't completely horrid - it's still not nntp.  It
>>will be sorely missed.
>
> The biggest problem with web forums is the decentralization. With
> Usenet, there was always one single database for everything. With web
> servers, you have to connect to a myriad of different servers to keep
> up with your various subjects of interest.
>

It's actually just the opposite.  USENET is very decentralized - way more so
then any web forum.  Posts are submitted to a server and then propogated to
other nttp servers.

> How hard would it be to implement an NNTP interface in the web forum
> server software? I can't imagine it would take a lot of effort.

MS has an nntp bridge for their webforums.  But, from all reports it's very
slow - and if your like me and use a text only news reader (slrn+vim), then
the html nature of the posts will make it unusable - unless you use a news
reader that supports html.

--
Tom Shelton
Author
8 May 2010 6:35 PM
Robert Roland
On Sat, 08 May 2010 10:30:41 -0700, Tom Shelton
<tom_shel***@comcastXXXXXXX.net> wrote:

>It's actually just the opposite.  USENET is very decentralized - way more so
>then any web forum.  Posts are submitted to a server and then propogated to
>other nttp servers.

Sure, but only if you look at it from a technical point of view. If
you look at it from a user's point of view, you connect to one server
and get access to all groups, and each group will contain any post
made from any server.

>> How hard would it be to implement an NNTP interface in the web forum
>> server software? I can't imagine it would take a lot of effort.
>
>MS has an nntp bridge for their webforums.

Is there any information on how to use it? My newsreader can connect
to several servers, so it should simply be a matter of adding one or
more servers, I expect.

> But, from all reports it's very
>slow -

Slow is not a serious problem for NNTP. In the olden days, I read news
through a dial-up connection. It is, of course, convenient to be able
to download a message body instantly at the press of a button, but it
is not a requirement.

>and if your like me and use a text only news reader (slrn+vim), then
>the html nature of the posts will make it unusable - unless you use a news
>reader that supports html.

My newsreader does support HTML, but I keep the support turned off
most of the time. With HTML support off, the reader converts the HTML
to plaintext for me. I don't know enough about HTML to decide how
difficult that process is, but it is certainly possible.
--
RoRo
Author
8 May 2010 5:34 PM
Cor Ligthert[MVP]
Microsoft made it, it was the reason I started looking at the forums,

However, the Microsoft forums software is good enough currently to be in
some cases better than NNTP

https://connect.microsoft.com/feedback/default.aspx?SiteID=927

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"Robert Roland" <f***@ddress.no> wrote in message
news:9g6bu51929vheojnrlq5fdbtk9vg5mlgra@4ax.com...
> On Tue, 04 May 2010 20:11:32 -0700, Tom Shelton
> <tom_shel***@comcastXXXXXXX.net> wrote:
>
>>While the web interface isn't completely horrid - it's still not nntp.  It
>>will be sorely missed.
>
> The biggest problem with web forums is the decentralization. With
> Usenet, there was always one single database for everything. With web
> servers, you have to connect to a myriad of different servers to keep
> up with your various subjects of interest.
>
> How hard would it be to implement an NNTP interface in the web forum
> server software? I can't imagine it would take a lot of effort.
> --
> RoRo
Author
8 May 2010 6:47 PM
Robert Roland
On Sat, 8 May 2010 19:34:17 +0200, "Cor Ligthert[MVP]"
<Notmyfirstn***@planet.nl> wrote:

>Microsoft made it, it was the reason I started looking at the forums,
>
>However, the Microsoft forums software is good enough currently to be in
>some cases better than NNTP
>
>https://connect.microsoft.com/feedback/default.aspx?SiteID=927

Thanks.

It seems they implemented this with a piece of client software that
needs to be installed on my PC. How utterly, spectacularly insane!

What they have to do, is to run software on the server that emulates
an NNTP server, so that any NNTP reader on any platform can connect.
--
RoRo