Re: Mapping of this group to MS forums
- From: "R. C. White" <rc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:28:28 -0500
Hi, Mike.
I assume this Newsgroup mirrors one of the MS support forums?
Your assumption is backwards.
These started out as Usenet newsgroups many years ago, kind of a new version of the BBSes and CompuServe forums that had already existed for a decade or more. Then Microsoft created a web-based interface so that users - especially newbies who were not familiar with newsgroups - could read and respond with their browser - Internet Explorer or a 3rd-part application. When accessed via the web, these newsgroups are called Microsoft Communities or discussion groups - and now the term "forums" is becoming common. But they are still, under the skin, Usenet newsgroups and that is the most natural way to access them.
Then Microsoft added "bells and whistles" to the Communities, such as the "rep icon" you mention in your later post.
Since these are, in fact, Usenet newsgroups, they are freely accessible to the millions (?) of News Servers around the world. Those other news servers can "slurp" messages from here and relay any responses back and forth (often resulting in replies that are out of sequence or delayed - or simply lost). Some entrepreneurs have created their own "forums", which also leach posts from here and present them as their own content. You will often see posts here with taglines mentioning TechArena or mx-forums (or Google groups, which you used) or other such non-Microsoft hosts. They typically require their "members" to create a name and password and to log on before they can post to the "forum". The forum managers then simply relay the question to these newsgroups and relay any reply back to the "forum"; the forum user thinks that the reply is "inside information" available exclusively to "members" of the "forum" - and often does not even realize that his post has been relayed around the world and that the "answer" to his question came from here. The forum owner, while typically providing little or no content himself, generates revenue for himself by posting ads on his "forum" - for a fee. This has become so lucrative that "forums" are popping up all over - including those under Microsoft's umbrella. Soon, our beloved FREE newsgroups may become only a cherished memory. :>(
Sorry for the long answer to a short question, Mike. The full answer would be much longer, but I'll quit here.
Which came first, the newsgroup or the forum? In this case, the answer is clear: the newsgroups came first.
RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8089.0726) in Win7 Ultimate x64
"MikeB" <mpbrede@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:36465666-bfc1-4a96-9df2-f39d7f323d45@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I assume this Newsgroup mirrors one of the MS support forums? If so,
can anyone point me to the relevant one? There doesn't seem to be a
1-1 correspondence between the newsgroup hirarchy and hte forums I can
see at http://www.microsoft.com/communities/forums/default.mspx
Thanks.
.
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