In the microsoft.public.access.* groups, Microsoft has announced their
intention to shut those groups down and move to a web based system. Example
announcement:
Group: microsoft.public.access.modulesdaovba
Subject: Microsoft Responds to the Evolution of Online Communities

For those of us who prefer Usenet, it makes sense for us to make people
aware of this group, in the hope that it experiences a renewal of interest
as the MS ones disappear.

--
Allen Browne - Perth, Western Australia
Tips for Access users - http://allenbrowne.com/tips.html
Reply to group, rather than allenbrowne at mvps dot org.

Allen Browne wrote:

messaging system I've been on or seen.

This is a link from a google search on it.
http://www.microsoft.com/communities...s/default.mspx

Maybe programmers have been clamoring for colors and intermixed fonts
for years. From the link it appears this update will be the cat's meow
and we'll all live in bliss with the new format.

"Salad" <salad (AT) oilandvinegar (DOT) com> wrote

I couldn't agree more Allen. What's the best way to go about that, do you
think?

Agreed. The web was never intended to handle hierarchical data and any
attempts to do so (that I've seen) are a kludgy mess.

I think it's mostly about spam control and MS "owning the app". They want
rid of 3rd party readers. This guy obviously agrees:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05..._kills_groups/

"Stuart McCall" <smccall (AT) myunrealbox (DOT) com> schreef in bericht news:LpcFn.13
What I would miss most in the forums is the easy way to monitor the posts
you're interested in. With the Windows Mail (or Outlook Express) newswreader
that's such a great functionality. With the forums you can use email
notifications, but it's clumsy and takes far more time to process.

Maybe we can come up with a general signature which we can use to point
users to this NG?

Lars

MS Access questions?
Go to: comp.databases.ms-access

"Stuart McCall" <smccall (AT) myunrealbox (DOT) com> wrote


Spam control, is just as easy on a news server, as on a webserver.

There are more free and viable Browsers out there than just Internet
Explorer, so if the goal was to control the experience, they've already
lost. As far as owning the content, they've lost there as well. Content that
they don't generate is the property of the author, no how where it's
delivered.

I think that what they want is more editorial control, and the ability to
sell advertising, as well as capture user information. That's much easier to
do with a web based forum.

None of that really matters though. What should matter is does the user get
the help he needs? I think that will be harder to do if there are fewer
experienced users who are available to help their customers because they are
making it more difficult to do so.
--
Arvin Meyer, MCP, MVP
http://www.datastrat.com
http://www.accessmvp.com
http://www.mvps.org/access

Oh goody!

Participants will be able to cast votes for best answers and filter on
the opinions of selected elite
individuals.

Ego driven support forums. Brilliant!

"rkc" <rkc (AT) rkcny (DOT) com> wrote

Have you tried stackoverflow.com? You can qualify for badges on there. Like
the boy scouts all over again.

badges? - we don't need no steenking badges

"Arvin Meyer" <arvinm (AT) invalid (DOT) org> wrote

Really? I've no idea, but I've been told otherwise. <shrug>

But on the web, the website is the "owned program", not the browser.

You're probably right there.

Hear hear.

"Lars Brownies" <Lars (AT) Browniew (DOT) com> wrote

Now there's a thought. Lets see if anyone else chimes in on it..

"Stuart McCall" <smccall (AT) myunrealbox (DOT) com> wrote in
news:Y6iFn.33$Nm7.8 (AT) newsfe29 (DOT) ams2:

StackOverflow is great, but there isn't a sufficient critical mass
of Access users reading and posting. The vast majority of the
questions there that get classified as "ms access" are actual
Jet/ACE questions. Posts asking about how to build apps in Access
frequently get flagged as inapparopriate for SO because they aren't
about programming!

There is an enormous bigotry and hostility towards Access among the
people who post on SO and I've been fighting against it for a long
time. It's gotten better, but it's still not even close to a
replacement for the MS public newsgroups and this one.

However, it might be that an Access-only site could be set up. Right
now the people behind SO have opened up their platform for free use.
I think the concept behind it is quite good (though I have
reservations about several things). For an explanation of what's
happening with Stack Exchange read here:

http://blog.stackexchange.com/post/5...k-exchange-2-0

If enough of us got interested, we might be able to get an
Access-only Stack Exchange site.

For those who've never tried StackOverflow.com, you can see what's
being posted there with this search:

http://tinyurl.com/27pceh3 =>
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/t...r%20ms-jet-ace
%20or%20jet%20or%20ms-access-2007

(the search interface is one of the weaknesses, BTW)

--
David W. Fenton http://www.dfenton.com/
usenet at dfenton dot com http://www.dfenton.com/DFA/