Where are suggestions posted on this website?

[thuse]

I posted something after selecting the "suggestions" icon several hours ago.
When posted, there was a message that said it may take 5 minutes to appear,
but it has been several hours now. It does not appear in this thread, or
anywhere else I can find. This is an experiment to see if "questions" get
lost too.

Ironically enough, the suggestion was that a category of "how to work around
the limitations of this website" is needed.

 

[thuse]

Just made a useful discovery. The "Search" capability is case sensitive is a
strange way. When my search phrases were "search" or "SEARCH" nothing could
be found. When I tried "Search" many posts were found, with "search" in all
kinds of mixtures of upper and lower case. My original queries here (largely
unanswered) had to do with problems with Vista Search. It seems Vista's
diseaes are contagious, and have infected this website's software.

 

[DP]

FYI, in case you don't already know it:
People access this thing (for want of a better word) in a variety of
different ways.
I, for one, read it via Windows Mail. Others may read it via Outlook Express
(though they couldn't do that directly from Vista).
Others use newsreaders.
I have never been to the website you are discussing and I imagine a lot of
other folks who post questions or solutions have never been either.

 

[thuse]

DP, MVP Malke made a similar suggestion in another thread. My comment then
was joining a newsgroup was a big commitment for a casual user. I'd prefer
to use a website, if its shortcomings are fixable.

Since MVP's are advising me to drop the website and go to a newgroup, is
that a MS official position that this website should be avoided? I've seen
similar websites that worked better, so I don't think the software here is at
the leading edge of technology. MS has the resources to improve it, if they
want to. Is that a naive hope on my part?

 

[Malke]

DP, MVP Malke made a similar suggestion in another thread. My comment
then
was joining a newsgroup was a big commitment for a casual user. I'd
prefer to use a website, if its shortcomings are fixable.

Since MVP's are advising me to drop the website and go to a newgroup, is
that a MS official position that this website should be avoided? I've
seen similar websites that worked better, so I don't think the software
here is at
the leading edge of technology. MS has the resources to improve it, if
they
want to. Is that a naive hope on my part?

You're missing the point. This *isn't* really a website in the forum sense
as you are thinking about it. As I said in my standard "use a newsreader"
boilerplate which you apparently read - what you are seeing is *not* a
website forum. It is a web interface to Usenet newsgroups. Setting up a
newsreader is *not* "a big commitment"; it's very easy to do.

So no one is actually advising you to "drop the website". We are advising
you to stop using the web interface and access Usenet newsgroups with a
newsreader instead.

Malke

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

DP, MVP Malke made a similar suggestion in another thread. My comment then
was joining a newsgroup was a big commitment for a casual user.

I don't think so at all. Everyone running Windows Vista or XP already
has a newsreader (Outlook Express or Windows Mail), and setting up and
using it to access newsgroups is extremely easy. See
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm

I'd
prefer to use a website, if its shortcomings are fixable.

Its shortcomings are not fixable. Your choice of course, but my very
strong guess is that if you say that, you have little or no experience
using a newsreader. I can assure you that almost everyone who tries it
agrees that it's much faster and easier to use, and a much more
pleasant experience.

Since MVP's are advising me to drop the website and go to a newgroup, is
that a MS official position that this website should be avoided?

Not at all. If that were their position, they wouldn't provide the
web-based interface to these newsgroups.

But regardless of Microsoft's position, almost all MVPs and other
experienced participants greatly prefer to access these newsgroups
with a newsreader, rather than with a web browser.

My strong recommendation is to give it a try. It's very easy, and
*much* better in all respects.

 

[thuse]

There's a great scene in a Marx Brother's movie where Groucho is sold a book
that will insure that he will have winning bets at the racetrack. He starts
reading it, and finds a term he doesn't know. Zeppo then sells him another
book that defines that term, but it introduces another term he doesn't
understand. Zeppo then sells him still another book. The cycle repeats
several times until Groucho has more books than he can hold, and encounters
still another strange term. Zeppo advises him to be patient, he'll soon be
"getting it", and offers another book. Groucho responds that he is already
getting it.

This all started as a simple question on how to make vista search find a
phrase in a .dat file. I've learned all kinds of new if irrelevant
technology. I still can't do this search, although I've spent several hours
doing things that other posters have suggested. The latest advice, to join a
newsgroup, has taken up two hours, without success. I think I'm getting it,
but I don't like it.

To respond to Blake's points:
"Its [the website's] shortcomings are not fixable. " Anything is fixable,
given sufficient resources and commitment. This website does not reflect
favorably on MS. It certainly is not state of the art.

"... it is very easy, and "much" better in all respects." It's not easy to
get started, despite the flossy advice in links for Vista provided by Malke.
I tried both. They aren't easy.

I've bounced around on a lot of websites. One of the useful features many
have is a discussion group that describes how to work around their software
limitations, such as my observation that the search function for the word
appears to work only with the capitalization-lower case convention of
"Search". If true, this will help other posters immediately. If monitored,
the administrator will be aware that his software needs fixing. MS directed
me to this website by going to their web page. For better or worse, some
people will like websites better than newsgroups, particularly casual users
like me who never aspire to MVP status. If MS is going to send us to the
website they have some obligation to maintain it, fix errors, and keep it
current with the state of the art. If they’d rather kill it they should just
do that, and put it out of its misery.

 

[Malke]

donotspam wrote:


(snip long rant)

Complaining about how Microsoft does/doesn't do things here - in this
newsgroup - is futile. This is a peer-to-peer tech support Usenet newsgroup
and you aren't communicating with Microsoft.

Many people prefer a real web forum experience. I think you will be one of
them since you had a hard time setting up your newsreader. I can recommend
three really excellent web forums. The first one is aimed specifically at
newbies, although you don't have to be a newbie to enjoy it long-term.

http://www.computerhaven.info
http://http://www.aumha.net/
http://www.dslreports.com/forums/all

Since I don't have anything else to add to this thread, EOT for me.

Malke

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

There's a great scene in a Marx Brother's movie where Groucho is sold a book
that will insure that he will have winning bets at the racetrack.

"A Day at the Races."

He starts
reading it, and finds a term he doesn't know. Zeppo

Chico.


then sells him another
book that defines that term, but it introduces another term he doesn't
understand. Zeppo then sells him still another book. The cycle repeats
several times until Groucho has more books than he can hold, and encounters
still another strange term. Zeppo advises him to be patient, he'll soon be
"getting it", and offers another book. Groucho responds that he is already
getting it.

This all started as a simple question on how to make vista search find a
phrase in a .dat file. I've learned all kinds of new if irrelevant
technology. I still can't do this search, although I've spent several hours
doing things that other posters have suggested. The latest advice, to join a
newsgroup, has taken up two hours, without success. I think I'm getting it,
but I don't like it.

Your choice. You may like whatever you want.

To respond to Blake's points:
"Its [the website's] shortcomings are not fixable. " Anything is fixable,
given sufficient resources and commitment. This website does not reflect
favorably on MS. It certainly is not state of the art.

I agree. As I said, I do *not* recommend using it.

"... it is very easy, and "much" better in all respects." It's not easy to
get started, despite the flossy advice in links for Vista provided by Malke.
I tried both. They aren't easy.

If that's your experience, fine. I've given the same advice to dozens
of other people, none of whom have ever had any difficulty using a
newsreader instead of the awful web interface. In fact, everyone I
know who has tried using a newsreader instead has told be how much
better and easier it was.

 

[DP]

DP, MVP Malke made a similar suggestion in another thread. My comment
then
was joining a newsgroup was a big commitment for a casual user. I'd
prefer
to use a website, if its shortcomings are fixable.

Thuse: I wasn't suggesting that you drop the website. I was just alerting
you to the fact that other people access this group in different fashions.
I would never suggest you drop the website, because I know there are just as
many people out there who would suggest to me that I drop Windows Mail (and
before that, Outlook Express) and get a "real" newsreader.

I'm sure Windows Mail may have some drawbacks as compared to a "real"
newsreader, but I'm happy with it anyway. If the website works for you, use
it.
Just wanted to alert you that there are lots of folks who wouldnt know what
you're talking about because they access this thing in a different fashion.
(I once recently saw someone who responded to a post by calling the poster
an idiot because he message carried boilerplate info at the bottom about
pressing a certain button to vote for the post. Apparently that's a feature
of the website. The idiot who was responding didn't know that and called
into question the intelligence of the person whose posting carried that
boilerplate.)

 

[Gordon]

DP, MVP Malke made a similar suggestion in another thread. My comment
then
was joining a newsgroup was a big commitment for a casual user.

Eh? How is subscribing to a newsgroup a "big commitment"? You don't "commit"
to anything!