Cross-posting

[SwearBear]

How do I cross-post to more than one discussion group. I had a question that
I wanted to post to both the Excel Programming discussion group and the Excel
Worksheet Functions d.g. When I went to "Advanced Options" and entered both
discussion group names, it wouldn't take the post, whether I separated the
names with commas or with semi-colons. I'm new to this, so is there
something I need to know about "full USENET designations" for the discussion
groups?

 

[Fred Smith]

"is there something I need to know"

Yes, don't cross post. It's a real time waster.

Most responders monitor the main groups, including .programming and
..worksheet.functions. Post to either one of these.

Regards,
Fred.

 

[SwearBear]

One of the posts I read yesterday was by a MS MVP who was chastising someone
for posting the same question to two different discussion groups and telling
him what a waste of time THAT was. He suggested "cross-posting" as
responders would see just the one question and their answer(s) would
automatically show up in either group. That way they would not be spending
their time answering the same question twice. I think it's set up that way
purposely - it made sense to me. As I said, the person he was chastising was
sending multiple copies of the same question to multiple discussion groups.
That was not my intent.

 

[T. Valko]

Cross posting as you describe is ok but multi-posting is a frowned upon.

Sorry, can't help with how to cross post, you're using the web interface.

 

[Rick Rothstein \(MVP - VB\)]

I don't use a web interface for newsgroup participation as I find the
newsgroup reader in Outlook Express (Windows Mail in Vista) quite
satisfactory. I don't think you can cross-post from a web interface to
newsgroups. If you were using a newsgroup reader (personally, I think they
are a much better method of working with newsgroups), you would put all the
newsgroup names (comma delineated) in the Newsgroups field on the Reply To
Group message.

Rick

 

[SwearBear]

Thanks. I don't use Outlook Express, but I guess I will have to look into
what "Newsgroup readers" are. I'm new to this 'discussion group' thing, but
I did see something about newsgroups in the new member information. I'll try
to find it again and see if that helps. Right now, I don't even know what a
Newsgroup is...

 

[Dave Peterson]

Saved from a previous post:

If you have Outlook Express installed, try clicking on these links (or copy and
paste into MSIE).

news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.excel.setup
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.excel.misc
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.excel.worksheet.functions
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.excel.newusers
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.excel.programming

(and a few more for MSWord)
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.word.word97vba
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.word.newusers
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.word.pagelayout
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.word.vba.addins
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.word.vba.beginners
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.word.vba.customization
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.word.vba.general
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.word.vba.userforms
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.word.word6-7macros

(You can always connect to more later)

Here are some links that explain it better:

Chip Pearson has some notes written by Leonard Meads at:
http://www.cpearson.com/excel/DirectConnect.htm

David McRitchie's notes at:
http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/xlnews.htm
http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/oe6.htm
http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/oe6nws01.htm

Tushar Mehta's notes at:
http://www.tushar-mehta.com/misc_tutorials/oe_ng/index.htm

And if you're looking for old posts:

Or you can use google (maybe a few hours behind) to search for stuff you've
posted (and find the replies, too)

http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search
http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search?q=group:*Excel*&num=100

Ron de Bruin has an excel addin that you may like:
http://www.rondebruin.nl/Google.htm

Thanks. I don't use Outlook Express, but I guess I will have to look into
what "Newsgroup readers" are. I'm new to this 'discussion group' thing, but
I did see something about newsgroups in the new member information. I'll try
to find it again and see if that helps. Right now, I don't even know what a
Newsgroup is...

 

[Fred Smith]

You're right, there's a difference between cross-posting and multi-posting.
Regardless, they are both time wasters, both for you and the responders. Had
you asked your question initially in either of the discussion boards, you
would have had your answer by now.

Regards,
Fred.

 

[Rick Rothstein \(MVP - VB\)]

Why do you think cross-posting a "time waster"? Did you see the 2nd part of
the message I posted in this thread?

Rick

 

[Peo Sjoblom]

It's perfectly fine to cross-post as opposed to multi-post which is the real
time waster

--


Regards,


Peo Sjoblom

Why do you think cross-posting a "time waster"? Did you see the 2nd part
of the message I posted in this thread?

Rick

 

[SwearBear]

Thank you so much. I don't use Outlook Express (use straight Outlook), but
you've given me plenty of research to do to keep me busy for awhile. Much
appreciated!

 

[Bob I]

Outlook will fire up Outlook Express to read Newsgroups.

 

[Fred Smith]

Certainly this post has been a time waster for everyone involved. This is
not an Excel question at all. It would have been better posted to an Outlook
Express group. It's been a time waster for SwearBear. He would have had his
answer by now if he had simply posted to one newsgroup.

You're correct that cross-posting when done correctly shouldn't waste time,
because the system should take care of posting reponses to all groups. My
point is that expecially in these Excel groups, it's unnecessary because
most everyone monitors the popular groups.

I stand by my advice that he would have been far better off just to post to
one group.

Regards,
Fred.

Why do you think cross-posting a "time waster"? Did you see the 2nd part
of the message I posted in this thread?

Rick

 

[SwearBear]

Dave,

I don't know what happened to the last post I sent you in reply, but I
wanted to tell you, "Thank You" for all of the links. I don't use Outlook
Express, but I will research these links as soon as I have the time.

 

[SwearBear]

Rick,

I did and it doesn't make sense to me that a service like this would
provide the ability to cross-post (not multi-post) unless it served a useful
purpose. I'm sure that when you have a question and you're not really sure
which group to post it in, cross-posting would be the way to go. I have a
question posted in Excel Worksheet Functions, "Counting from the Bottom Up",
that I tried to cross-post but couldn't. I wasn't sure if the experts
monitoring Worksheet Functions would answer the question as I was concerned
that it would be a macro programming issue and that it should be posted under
Excel Programming. I don't know why the site would have separate groups
unless they were not directly tied to each other. I think cross-posting
would have been a legitimate way to post my question, even though I got a
great answer back right away from T. Valko.
--
Sociopath

Why do you think cross-posting a "time waster"? Did you see the 2nd part of
the message I posted in this thread?

Rick

 

[SwearBear]

Fred,

I don't know that this subject is a time-waster when you consider the
number of posts it has received, just on this Topic. It's obviously a
controversial question and I've gained a lot of insight into it and the group
discussions process. (I'm new, remember?) This may not be what you consider
an Excel question, but as I mentioned much earlier, I read a post in the
Excel groups that had a MS MVP chastising a poster about multi-posting his
questions in more than one group. He is the one, as I recall, that mentioned
the cross-posting option vs. the multi-posting. I think it's a valid
question for a 'newbie' to ask in any group. I asked it in Excel General
Questions.
As far as your suggestion that this question should have been posted to
an Outlook Express group, you're ASSUMING that everyone who logs on here is
using Outlook Express. Guess what? I DON'T and I'm sure ther're many others
who don't!
You're right about some of these posts being a time-waster for me, but I
have gotten some good information and a much better understanding of the
cross-post issue and when & why cross-posting makes sense. How on earth
would I, or you, for that matter, know that, "most everyone monitors the
popular groups??? That seems like another huge ASSUMPTION on your part. I
have noticed that certain names appear often in answers to posts in one group
as opposed to OTHER certain names predominant in another group. That comes
from looking at lots of posts in both the Programming and Worksheet Functions
groups in the last few days, not to mention all of them I went through in
this group. There's a time & place for everything.

 

[SwearBear]

Bob,

I found a Help article in Outlook titled, "Start the newsgroup reader†-
I'll follow up on that and see where it takes me.

Thanks...

 

[SwearBear]

Bob,

I found a Help article in Outlook titled, "Start the newsgroup reader†-
I'll follow up on that and see where it takes me.

Thanks...

 

[Bob I]

Most welcome, and here is a bit more useful bits for you.

http://aumha.org/nntp.htm

 

[SwearBear]

Looks incredible.
Thanks, again!
--
Sociopath

Most welcome, and here is a bit more useful bits for you.

http://aumha.org/nntp.htm