As a regular office reader and sometimes poster (mostly Excel, occassionally
Word, Visio, PP, and others), the first thing that would be helpful would be
to be able to see threads I've started or contributed to *in date order* when
I search for my own ID, since that is the only way I can find them in the MS
newsgroup interface (which I'm unfortunately limited to, because our firewall
blocks NNTP traffic). I'm assuming that is your target audience, as posts
coming in directly via NNTP won't necessarily have the question/answer flags.
Anyway, if I'm helping someone in a multi-day newsgroup correspondence, it is
a huge hassle to keep finding that thread so that the OP actually gets to a
solution. Fix basic bugs in the web newsgroup interface, like search not
being able to find a posting that is still visible in the full posting list.
For high-volume contributors, provide more than one page of search results
(or some other way to access self-posts).
To answer you question: IMHO, people who are hiring for these skill sets
probably aren't on these newsgroups (if they were, they'd learn how to do it
themselves) and the employers I've worked with wouldn't recognize anything
less than an actual certification from a recognized body (MS or other
recognized organization). There may be isolated cases where someone comes to
the newsgroup looking for paid consultant help, but I rarely notice those. I
would never include my newsgroup activity on a resume or in a job interview,
and as an employer, someone who included that would probably drop lower on my
list of applicants (with the notable exception of MVP status, those are great
people and I respect their contributions because of their aggregate
contributions to the newsgroups).
However, if you are trying to create an effective community, then it does
make sense to include performance feedback. Let people know whether they are
adding value, and maybe even include a system (public or anonymous) where
people could see how their contribution and effectiveness rates compare to
the average and top quartile of all responders (perhaps only for those who
contribute a minimum volume per month).
I didn't go to the site you reference (URL deleted) because for security, I
don't follow links from posters that are not recognized contributors (MVPs or
high volume posters)- but hopefully you'll find this feedback to be useful
anyway.
If you are an official MS representative, I've submitted newsgroup
improvement suggestions on multiple occassions, and would be happy to give
you free design consulting/suggestions. However, a much better approach would
be to set up a separate website under the MS domain, and invite all newsgroup
participants to go to that site to give suggestions. Even better, aggregate
the data, prioritize it, and post updates of what changes will be made.
Best,
Keith
