Re: Final Reminder - Microsoft Responds to the Evolution of Community
Peter Saxton
>
>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://office.microsoft.com/en-us/accounting/default.aspx
>
Is this a joke?
>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
>NN...@microsoft.com