The general sentiment among "old timers" and folks who do significant
volumes of posting is in favor of NNTP. I certainly use NNTP most of the
time, myself. However, looking at forums/newsgroups in the perspective of
the broader Internet as a communications medium, I'm seeing considerable
advantage to a mechanism involving authentication of some sort--NNTP, like
email, is pretty anonymous. Authentication allows, for example, my posts
when made via HTML to show my MVP status, for whatever that is worth to the
reader--with some assurance that it is legitimate--and that I am who I
am--impersonation is not uncommon in NNTP groups.
Microsoft has made an attempt to incorporate this into the Vista mail
application, but I haven't used that mechanism enough to know how effective
and reliable it is. Beyond that--most folks just find HTML./web easier to
get started with.
The issue most large-volume responders have is with the speed and
responsiveness, and also the ability to work offline--some are still on
dialup and download messages and compose replies offline. In general, HTML
forums are painfully slow compared to NNTP--and this is annoying when you
are volunteering your time.
By all means learn about and try out NNTP--but be aware that there are a
number of support forums that Microsoft uses for various purposes and
products, which don't have an NNTP interface--OneCare used to be such a
product, but I believe they recently started an NNTP group which is a good
sign.
--
"Stu" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:744899CC-7AA0-4C57-9B69-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi Donald,
>
> Perhaps its high time I abandoned my `die hard` approach of viewing these
> NGs thru a web based interface and fire up Outlook Express.
>
> Stu
>
> "Donald Anadell" wrote:
>
>> Hi Stu,
>>
>> Your theory sounds good to me, like you I run CCleaner on nearly a daily
>> basis so any previously downloaded copy of dap.js would be long gone on
>> any
>> of my machines here.
>>
>> Just another good reason to abandon the use of the web interface for
>> viewing
>> these groups and use an NNTP news reader IMHO;o)
>>
>> Good luck,
>>
>> Donald Anadell
>>
>>
>> "Stu" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:05243FC3-D955-4BFF-B55D-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> > Hi Donald
>> >
>> > Ah! Many thanks for your explanation. I guess that must beg the
>> > question
>> > there are times (like this) when it might not so be so smart to clean
>> > out
>> > the
>> > TIF folder so often. What I mean is. If I hadn`t done so since the
>> > possible
>> > MSN Ads server error started, then perhaps the dap.js file could
>> > already
>> > be
>> > sitting here (in the TIF folder) from previous visits before things
>> > went
>> > wrong. Or, doesn`t it work like that?
>> >
>> > Stu
>> >
>> > "Donald Anadell" wrote:
>> >
>> >> Hi Stu,
>> >>
>> >> I don't use the web interface to view these groups but rather an NNTP
>> >> news
>> >> reader, but I took a look this morning with the IE6, IE7, and Avant
>> >> Browsers
>> >> and I'm experiencing the same results as you are with regard to the
>> >> Script
>> >> error(s) with those three Browsers. Here's my take on why this is
>> >> happening.
>> >>
>> >> That error message("dapMgr" is undefined) is being caused by a missing
>> >> .js
>> >> file(dap.js) that is not being served up from the MSN Ads server:
>> >> http://Ads1.msn.com/library/dap.js
>> >> possibly because the server itself is down at this time.
>> >>
>> >> So the "dap.js" file in the following code:
>> >> <script type="text/javascript"
>> >> src="http://Ads1.msn.com/library/dap.js"></script>
>> >> is not being downloaded to the Cache folder(Temporary Internet Files).
>> >>
>> >> Another JavaScript in the Source code on those pages is calling for
>> >> that
>> >> "dap.js" file and it's not available in the Cache(Temporary Internet
>> >> Files)
>> >> and so a script error is rendered, here's the call for that "dap.js"
>> >> file
>> >> that is causing the error message:
>> >>
>> >> <script type="text/javascript">
>> >> dapMgr.enableACB("CMSSH1", false);
>> >> dapMgr.renderAd("CMSSH1", "&PG=CMSSH1&SC=F3&AP=1164",120,240);
>> >> </script>
>> >>
>> >> It's calling "dapMgr" and "dapMgr" is defined in "dap.js" which is not
>> >> available in the cache folder(Temporary Internet Files), and so you
>> >> get
>> >> an
>> >> error message that "dapMgr" is undefined.
>> >>
>> >> Good luck,
>> >>
>> >> Donald Anadell
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> "Stu" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> >> news:995C62D2-9CFC-46CA-A9A6-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> >> >I think there is something wrong with the MS AS newsgroup web pages
>> >> >when
>> >> > viewed thru a browser - IE7. This condition has prevailed for at
>> >> > least
>> >> > four
>> >> > days now on my system, and, in viewing terms varies from giving only
>> >> > a
>> >> > `half
>> >> > page load` to nothing at all. When the former happens, you cannot
>> >> > read
>> >> > the
>> >> > posts. This is particularly noticeable when navigating from one NG
>> >> > to
>> >> > the
>> >> > other. The WU NG loads with no problem. IE7 is giving a `Done` with
>> >> > the
>> >> > following error :
>> >> >
>> >> > Line: 14
>> >> > Char: 1
>> >> > Error: `dap Mgr` is undefined.
>> >> > Code: 0
>> >> >
>> >> > Followed by the URL of the web page being visited
>> >> > ...................
>> >> >
>> >> > Stu
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>>
>>
>>