Questions going unanswered?

[rain_gal]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Processor: Intel Email Client: pop If you have posted a question using the Mactopia interface in the past few days and are wondering why no one is answering your questions, it's because the forum is not publishing your questions to the newsgroup. All the MVPs use a newsreader to answer questions so we aren't seeing any of your questions.

This forum is just an interface to the newsgroup. If you use a newsreader rather than the Mactopia interface to this newsgroup you can download old messages and search for answers. If you are not familiar with a newsreader, Entourage's basic newsreader already has the Microsoft News server included. All you do is subscribe to the newsgroups you want. See this article for help subscribing using the Entourage newsreader:

 

[Jeff Chapman]

Hello,

This forum is just an interface to the newsgroup. If you use a newsreader
rather than the Mactopia interface to this newsgroup you can download old
messages and search for answers. If you are not familiar with a newsreader,
Entourage's basic newsreader already has the Microsoft News server included.
All you do is subscribe to the newsgroups you want. See this article for help
subscribing using the Entourage newsreader:

http://tinyurl.com/beds97>

This is good information to know.
However, it underscores a fundamental problem with the Mactopia website.
How is anyone ever supposed to know that they should use the NNTP newsgroups
rather than the Mactopia forum? There are no clear instructions on the
Mactopia forum for this.

I'm not calling you personally down for this, rain_gal - I just think
that it's a confusing situation to begin with, and some clearer
communications from the Mac BU at Microsoft regarding how to *properly*
use the forums would do a world of wonders. (Personally, I was
under the impression for quite some time that the newsgroups were
just mirroring the Mactopia discussions, until a few kind MVPs set me
straight ;-) )

I have sent feedback to Microsoft about this, and even received
a reply from their Excel product manager (why Excel, I'm not sure) about
the problem and how they're working on it. That was six months ago.
I get the impression that the Mac BU has pretty much just outsourced
the development and maintenance of the Mactopia site to an external
vendor, who likely doesn't give a rat's ass about whether it lives or dies.
I also wouldn't be surprised if the Mactopia forums have fallen
in between the cracks in terms of budget. If Microsoft is laying off
employees, it doesn't seem likely that they are going to spend more
money on improving the Mactopia forums or the site.

Just my two yen worth, anyway... maybe I should say something nice
for a change?

Jeff

 

[Diane Ross]

This is good information to know.
However, it underscores a fundamental problem with the Mactopia website.
How is anyone ever supposed to know that they should use the NNTP newsgroups
rather than the Mactopia forum? There are no clear instructions on the
Mactopia forum for this.

Getting them to change anything on the Mactopia site is difficult. They
won't even link to any of the MVP sites that have the answers.

Even if everything worked as expected the awful orange text is enough to
drive me away.

 

[Jeff Chapman]

Hello Diane,

Getting them to change anything on the Mactopia site is difficult. They
won't even link to any of the MVP sites that have the answers.

Even if everything worked as expected the awful orange text is enough to
drive me away.

Not to add to the gloomy mood, but the Mactopia Website Product Suggestions
page itself is apparently broken.

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/feedback.mspx

So even if we want to report feedback to Microsoft about their website,
we no longer have that option.

This is a clear and classic case of how corporations insulate themselves
from their customers without even knowing it. The funny thing is that
Microsoft's services are centered around and depend on technology,
but ironically it's their application of the technology itself that
could be driving customers away.

For the record, I'm a daily user of Microsoft products for Windows and
Mac, and hold no grudges, nor do I believe that everything should
work the way it's supposed to 100% of the time :-D
But oh, how nice it feels when technology DOES work the way it's
intended...

Jeff

 

[Diane Ross]

Not to add to the gloomy mood, but the Mactopia Website Product Suggestions
page itself is apparently broken.

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/feedback.mspx

I reported it. You can also use the feedback option under Help in the Menu
bar.

 

[Jeff Chapman]

Hello Diane,

I reported it. You can also use the feedback option under Help in the Menu
bar.

Yes, for some reason the site accessible from the feedback option
under the Help menu seems to work, I noticed.
However, the Mactopia feedback form that is on the Google search
results doesn't.

Jeff