USAOz said:
I am being asked by a ¡§MVP¡¨ to use a ¡§reasonable newsreader and to stop
using forums that cut off replies.
WHAT is meant by this ¡§help¡¨ to a question posted in a forum area?
I am using the Office forum Home page to access the relevant application
area in which I wish to post. I have searched the forum (each area) for my
issue and a resolution and did not find one.
On that basis I opened a new thread in the forum area I thought most likely
could address the issue and got the terse response from Milly MVP.
So what am I doing wrong? And if it IS wrong, what SHOULD I be doing? What
does she mean by ¡¥reasonable newsreader¡¨? Why does she say my replies are
cut off? I¡¦m doing nothing differently than I have done for over 3 years
with no prior problems or issues.
It would be nice to be given constructive advice and guidance instead of
being left to ponder why I¡¦m getting such a terse response!
Can't tell what you are talking about because you never provided a reference
to the other thread by either giving the message-ID for your post or for her
reply or by giving a URL pointing to a Google Groups copy of your thread.
Don't expect respondents to go do the searching that you omitted. If it
wasn't important to you to provide a link to your other thread, why would
you expect others to give any more importence to it?
Generally the reason for telling you about the crappy webnews-for-dummies
gateway to Usenet is to inform you that, one, you are actually posting to
Usenet and *not* to a forum and, two, forum-to-Usenet gateways often
generate crappy results and are crippled regarding Usenet features available
in newsreaders. The webnews-for-dummies interface is provided to pretend a
forum is larger than it really is or for boobs that can't figure out how to
use a newsreader and were weaned on web browsers as their only interface to
various communities.
The webnews interface won't have all the features of a real newsreader (an
NNTP client that connects to NNTP servers in a peering mesh network known as
Usenet). Forums that operate gateways to Usenet often produce improperly
formatted posts, like 1 long line for an entire paragraph of sentences
rather than physically wrapping the lines at 76 characters, or less. The
forums use HTML to show quoted content within a reply but they flatten all
quoted posts to make it impossible to see their hierarchy when they gateway
these same forum posts into newsgroup (Usenet). These same forums often
neglect to mention that they are operating a gateway to Usenet. Often this
is so the forum can pretend to have a larger community than just the few
that would use just a forum (isolated from Usenet). They are deemed leech
sites because they leech off of Usenet (aka newsgroups). Some, like
Microsoft's forums, provide the webnews interface knowing that many of their
customers are Usenet-ignorant users (which also means they haven't a clue to
proper posting or style netiquette) and are inexperienced with configuring
and using a newsreader (despite that the newsreader is more robust to handle
newsgroups). They're noobs to Usenet so the forum-to-
Usenet gateway hides Usenet from them. Alas, these same noobs don't realize
they are posting into Usenet which is an anarchy of worldwide users, not a
moderated forum. If you came to Usenet (whether via NNTP or some webnews
gateway to Usenet) seeking a venue for free support from Microsoft, this
isn't it.
MVPs (Microsoft Valuable Professionals) are *not* Microsoft employees.
There just other users, like you and me, who were nominated for that title
by the MVP organization (also not part of Microsoft). The are elected based
on the past history of participation (so you have to wonder how the first
MVPs got elected). I've seen boobs that have trolled trying to get
nominated for MVP status by spewing out a sporge of near-worthless posts
thinking that a large count of posts over a short term is going to get them
the MVP title. You have to participate for years and be considered by other
MVPs as qualifying for that title based on your general helpfulness and
exhibited expertise. I got offered a nomination but declined because I
didn't want to feel like having the title would cramp my sometimes
cantakerous style. Some users lie about being an MVP; for example, Chris
Butts (as pcbutts1 and several other nyms) claims to be an MVP in his
moniker but he never has been an MVP and never will be one (because the MVPs
are well acquianted with this misleading and lying troll). There are MVPs
who do not let themselves be listed in the MVPs list; however, I have to
wonder why they would want the title but not allow anyone to verify it. If
I can't verify it in the MVP list then I'm not going to believe it even if
other MVPs come to the rescue of the professed MVP trying to convince me
that he was rightfully nominated as an MVP. If I see a plaque on the wall
for someone claiming an award, title, or status, they'd better be able to
prove they rightfully earned that plaque. MVPs are humans, too, so don't
expect word-of-God truth to always emanate from an MVP. Besides, often
they, as well as the rest of the non-MVP crowd, are given such crappy
information from the poster that all they can do is make a guess assuming
they even care to respond. All of us here, whether MVP or not, are just a
bunch of *users* trying to help other users (well, there are malcontents,
trolls, peuriles, and other types here because, after all, anyone can get
onto Usenet and its worldwide without any regulation and usually no
moderation).
Below is my canned response to those who seem bent on submitting overtly
vague posts or haven't a clue as to where they are actually posting. You
are not posting in a protected forum with moderation and a select group of
participants when using Microsoft's forum interface to Usenet. You are in
the cold world of the anarchy known as Usenet. Forum-to-Usenet gateways are
a crappy interface to Usenet.
--- Posting Hints ---
ALWAYS REVIEW your message before submitting it. You want someone OTHER
than yourself to understand your post. Also remember that no one here is
looking over your shoulder to see at what you are pointing. If you don't
well explain your situation by providing the details that you already know,
don't expect others to know what is your situation. Explain YOUR computing
environment and just what actions you take to reproduce the problem.
Often you get just one chance per potential respondent to elicit a reply
from them. If they skip your post because you gave them nothing to go on
(no details, no versions, no OS, no context) then they will usually move on
to the next post and never return to yours.
What is Usenet:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsgroups
http://www.masonicinfo.com/newsgroups.htm
http://www.mcfedries.com/Ramblings/usenet-primer.asp
When using a webnews-for-dummies interface, like Microsoft's Communities or
Google Groups or a forum-to-Usenet proxy, those are gateways to Usenet.
Despite the appearance of a forum, you are still participating in a
newsgroup (Usenet).
How to post to newsgroups:
http://66.39.69.143/goodpost.htm
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
http://users.tpg.com.au/bzyhjr/liszt.html
http://www.mugsy.org/asa_faq/getting_along/usenet.shtml
Regarding error or status messages:
- Do NOT omit the message.
- Do NOT describe the message.
- Do NOT summarize the message.
- Do NOT paraphrase the message.
- Do NOT truncate the message.
- Do show the ENTIRE message (but munge or star out personal info,
like your username in an e-mail address but not the domain).
- Provide sufficient context on when the error occurs or how to
reproduce it.
How to quote correctly:
http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html
Never use quoted-printable or HTML format when posting to Usenet.
Always post using plain text. Wrap lines at 76 characters, or less.
