> 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
Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8089.0726) in Win7 Ultimate x64
"MikeB" <> wrote in message
news:36465666-bfc1-4a96-9df2-…
> 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…s/default.mspx
>
> Thanks.
