rooster said:
This isn't a "forum." It's a Usenet newsgroup. The first step in
learning the proper etiquette would, I should think, be to learn the
differences.
Usenet: Usenet is a collection of user-submitted notes or messages on
various subjects that are posted to servers on a worldwide network. Each
subject collection of posted notes is known as a newsgroup. There are
thousands of newsgroups and it is possible for you to form a new one.
Most newsgroups are hosted on Internet-connected servers, but they can
also be hosted from servers that are not part of the Internet. Usenet's
original protocol was UNIX-to-UNIX Copy (UUCP), but today the Network
News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) is used. Most browsers, such as those
from Netscape and Microsoft, provide Usenet support and access to any
newsgroups that you select. On the Web, Google and other sites provide a
subject-oriented directory as well as a search approach to newsgroups
and help you register to participate in them. In addition, there are
other newsgroup readers, such as Knews, that run as separate programs.
http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,290660,sid7_gci213262,00.html
Newsgroup: A newsgroup is a discussion about a particular subject
consisting of notes written to a central Internet site and redistributed
through Usenet, a worldwide network of news discussion groups. Usenet
uses the Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP). Newsgroups are
organized into subject hierarchies, with the first few letters of the
newsgroup name indicating the major subject category and sub-categories
represented by a subtopic name. Many subjects have multiple levels of
subtopics. Some major subject categories are: news, rec (recreation),
soc (society), sci (science), comp (computers), and so forth (there are
many more). Users can post to existing newsgroups, respond to previous
posts, and create new newsgroups. Newcomers to newsgroups are requested
to learn basic Usenet netiquette and to get familiar with a newsgroup
before posting to it. A frequently-asked questions is provided. The
rules can be found when you start to enter the Usenet through your
browser or an online service. You can subscribe to the postings on a
particular newsgroup. Some newsgroups are moderated by a designated
person who decides which postings to allow or to remove. Most newsgroups
are unmoderated.
http://searchexchange.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,290660,sid43_gci212650,00.html
Forum: An Internet forum is a facility on the World Wide Web for
holding discussions, or the web application software used to provide the
facility. Web-based forums, which date from around 1995, perform a
similar function as the dial-up bulletin boards and Internet newsgroups
that were numerous in the 1980s and 1990s. A sense of virtual community
often develops around forums that have regular users. Technology,
computer games, and politics are popular areas for forum themes, but
there are forums for a huge number of different topics. Internet forums
are also commonly referred to as web forums, message boards, discussion
boards, discussion forums, discussion groups, bulletin boards (but see
also dial-up bulletin boards), fora (the proper Latin plural) or simply
forums.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_forum
I’ve been querying for solutions to some problems I have been having,
but the threads seem to end; i.e. stop eliciting responses, before I get
'joy'.
Without specific threads to look at, it's impossible to determine
exactly why responses stopped. It could be that others thought your
problems resolvable by the answers already supplied, some may have
thought the problems insoluble, and some may have thought that you'd
been given the solution but simply didn't like the answers and kept
futilely pressing for different (but nonexistent) answers.
I appreciate this forum is oversubscribed and contributors must feel
overwhelmed just trying to keep up without making the thing a 24/7 time
sink. So, I would appreciate learning the best way to tease a resumption
of a query, bearing in mind that others are going to come along wishing
to “Search” for answers to similar problems.
You could try reposting the query with different wording and more
specific technical details, starting a new thread with an accurate, but
brief, subject line.
My question is: should we use the same Subject Line and post our next
query as if it were a new message, or should we contrive a new line and
make reference(s) in the body to previous ‘chapters’ in the query; or
just what? It seems to me that anyone searching the forum before posting
a query would benefit from seeing in the Subject Line that the post is
in fact a continuation of something. If this be so, then prescribing a
consistent convention to indicate this would also make sense to me.
Tongue in cheek, and no offense meant: One "definition" of insanity is
to keep repeating the same action(s) over and over again, while
expecting different results each time. If you haven't received
satisfaction in a particular newsgroup after a reasonable amount of
time, it may be that you're asking the question in the wrong newsgroup,
or that no one participating in the newsgroup has a solution. It may be
time to move on, and look elsewhere for assistance, such as at a
reputable local computer repair shop.
I am also wondering if it might streamline things a bit if there was a
Windows XP-Home forum for those of us sorry asses with OEM units. Just
from an organizational POV, this might help distribute the work load to
some extent for MVPs and help other contributors focus their efforts and
apply their expertise where they can be the most effective.
I don't see how the addition of one or more newsgroups would help
reduce the workload, although it might help ease some of the users'
confusion, but not by much. Don't we frequently see Win98, WinNT,
Win2K, and even Vista questions being asked in the WinXP newsgroups?
--
Bruce Chambers
Help us help you:
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin
