Problems with this forum

[Pagemakers]

I realise this is not a great place to post this but I don't see where else to put it.

Why does this forum never remember my login on any Mac or PC I login with?

I check the remember me box but it never does.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Why does this forum never remember my login on any Mac or PC I login
with?

Well to begin with, despite the appearances, it's not a forum per se.
You are accessing the microsoft.public.mac.office.entourage newsgroup
through the MS mirror pages.
You could do the same through the Google interface, or better, you could
use a decent newsgroup client (even Entourage can do that) and connect
to msnews.microsoft.com to check this group.
That would eliminate the problem altogether,

Corentin

 

[Pagemakers]

If the login features does not work as advertised I would suggest removing it.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

I realise this is not a great place to post this but I don't see where
else to put it.

There is a website feedback link in tiny white letters at the bottom of
each black and yellow Mactopia/OfficeForMac page. No one reading here
controls that website.

 

[Pagemakers]

Ah I see it. Feedback left!

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

If the login features does not work as advertised I would suggest
removing it.

Well you'll have to send a suggestion to MS for that. I sure don;t work
for them and I sure can't do a thing about it.

I'm not even using their site to get on the newsgroups. I use a
newsreader (as I've been doing for years and years).

Corentin

 

[William Smith]

Yes. In fact, a lot of us who read this news group don't even use the
horrid web interface. Instead, we prefer to use real news client
software such as MT-NewsWatcher, Hogwasher, Thoth, and so on.

I don't think any of us can stress this enough:

The officeformac.com posters (and anyone else posting messages through
web browsers) are not posting messages to Microsoft. Every message gets
flung out a back door and into the general public Usenet newsgroups,
which are not owned nor controlled by Microsoft or any other
company/institution.

The forums bear Microsoft's name but these are *not* Microsoft's forums.

--

bill

William M. Smith, Microsoft Interop MVP - Mac/Windows
Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>

 

[Diane Ross]

Well to begin with, despite the appearances, it's not a forum per se.
You are accessing the microsoft.public.mac.office.entourage newsgroup
through the MS mirror pages.
You could do the same through the Google interface, or better, you could
use a decent newsgroup client (even Entourage can do that) and connect
to msnews.microsoft.com to check this group.
That would eliminate the problem altogether,

How to subscribe to the Microsoft Entourage newsgroup

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/support_options/subnews.html>

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

I've been told exactly the opposite: that Microsoft *does*, in fact own
and control the servers that host these groups, and that it's only due
to Microsoft's supposed "generosity" that messages are available on the
public Usenet.

Yes and no... The newsgroups are mirrored on a multitude of other
newsservers on the Web. If MS pulled the plug, you could still access
the newsgroups through any of them.
I used to access the groups through the newsserver of my ISP:
nntp.free.fr a while back,

Corentin

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Uh huh, but would you be able to add posts to them?

I believe so.

Corentin

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Then how can Microsoft legitimately threaten to remove public access to
this news group from Usenet? One of you is mistaken, me thinks.

Well I never heard MS threaten to do so and I clearly don't see how they
could technically do so.

The same applies to spam: MS is trying to delete spam from its usenet
servers, but if you access the groups from one of the mirrors you still
see them. That's the nature of mirrored nntp servers.



Corentin

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Would it be logical to surmise that if Microsoft were to remove the
"bridge" between their web servers and Usenet, the Usenet news groups
would still exist, and the content of each respective group would simply
diverge?

Yep.

The usenet group would keep on living its life independently.
I would never post on the Web group and I don't know any of the MVPs who
would :->

Corentin

 

[Barry Wainwright]

Thanks! This gives me hope that someday Microsoft will remove the
craptastic bridge for good. You've brightened my day! : )

Forget it - they never will. They appear to be moving in a direction that
embraces web forums (where they can control access and glean additional data
by tracking usage) in preference to NNTP services (where they are unable to
control to format, distribution and metadata included in a message.

I addition, while Google are archiving, indexing, mirroring and supplying a
portal to these groups I do not expect MS to walk away from the field and
leave a competitor in charge!

(just my opinion).

--
Barry Wainwright
Microsoft MVP (see <http://www.microsoft.com/mvp/> for details)
Visit the Entourage User¹s Weblog for Hints, tips and troubleshooting
information:
http://www.barryw.net/weblog/

 

[ajg_248]

The usenet group would keep on living its life independently.

I would never post on the Web group and I don't know any of the MVPs who
would :->

Corentin

So what. New "MVPs" would emerge, likely ones who care more about
helping people than about dictating the terms of communication.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

So what. New "MVPs" would emerge, likely ones who care more about
helping people than about dictating the terms of communication.

I didn't mean it like that. I am in no way saying that MVPs should be
dicating anything.

What I meant was that people who post frequently to these groups want to
have proper tools to follow-up threads, kepp up with everything, etc.

Right now, the people the most active in the groups are all accessing
through newsreaders - not through the webpage interface.

Going web-only would mean losing all the advantages of the newsreaders
and many of us are not ready for that.

Corentin

 

[Barry Wainwright]

I think you misunderstood me. What I meant was that I hope they will
someday remove the *bridge* between the web forums and the news groups,
leaving both intact. (Well, to be honest I really don't care what they
do with the web forum, as long as it's not attached to the news groups
the way it is now. : )

Ah, sorry - yes I did misunderstand you.

I could live with separate fora.

--
Barry Wainwright
Microsoft MVP (see <http://www.microsoft.com/mvp/> for details)
Visit the Entourage User¹s Weblog for Hints, tips and troubleshooting
information:
http://www.barryw.net/weblog/

 

[Diane Ross]

So what. New "MVPs" would emerge, likely ones who care more about
helping people than about dictating the terms of communication.

This newsgroup had it's roots in NNTP. The current Mactopia interface in
it's current version has made problems for people that use NNTP newsreaders.
I have no problem with different ways to access this newsgroup. All I ask is
it follows the protocol of NNTP. MVPs are working with Mactopia to make this
better for all users.

In my situation, I have to regularly access Entourage to answer a question.
If I had to go back and forth between applications it would take me twice as
long to help thus I would be able to answer half the questions.

It might seem the Mactopia interface is a forum, but it's not. It's just a
portal to a newsgroup.

 

[art689]

I feel so dumb.. I have to ask somewhere.. how the heck to you start a new thread here? I have a simple question about importing addresses, and have read many threads 9even participated on one!), but I can't find out how to start my own. I hope my question is simple, but I can't ask it without hi-jacking the thread, which I am sorta doing anyway. Can someone help me out!

Thanks in advance for tolerating my dumbness!

Regards, Art in Baton Rouge

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

I feel so dumb.. I have to ask somewhere.. how the heck to you start a
new thread here?

On a related topic:
Well you have to realize that you are using a webpage interface to
actually access a newsgroup.
You could use a newsgroup client application (including Entourage) to
connect to the msnews.microsoft.com public server and acess these groups
(you are currently in microsoft.public.mac.office.entourage).

This could make your experience a lot easier.....

Corentin

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

There is a little yellow "ask a new question" link underneath the search
box at the upper left corner (straight below the name of the forum,
where it says "Search Entourage Forum").