NOTIFICATIONS

[Barbara]

When I receive notification that someone has responded to a question I have
posted on any of the communities, I get a blank page when I click on the
website in the notification. The only way I can access the response is to
log in and go to the community where I posted the question. I did send a
notice about this and got a e-mail back stating that this would be corrected
but evidently it has not been taken care of as I had the same thing happen
this morning. Does anyone else have this problem?

 

[Malke]

When I receive notification that someone has responded to a question I
have
posted on any of the communities, I get a blank page when I click on the
website in the notification. The only way I can access the response is to
log in and go to the community where I posted the question. I did send a
notice about this and got a e-mail back stating that this would be
corrected but evidently it has not been taken care of as I had the same
thing happen
this morning. Does anyone else have this problem?

I doubt you'll get anyone to email you when they've answered your questions
(I certainly won't). You're having this issue because you're using the
dreadful web interface to these newsgroups. A much better solution is to
use a real newsreader instead. This is very easy to set up.

Since you are using the web interface, you may not realize that this is
really a newsgroup. You will get far more out of this resource if you learn
to use a newsreader. There are many good newsreaders for Windows, but you
can use Outlook Express (XP) or Windows Mail (Vista) since you already have
it. Here are some links to information about newsgroups:

About Usenet:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/ - Usenet FAQs from the Internet FAQ Archives
http://www.usenetmonster.com/infocenter/
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Usenet - a brief explanation
of newsgroups

Outlook Express/Windows Mail as Newsreader:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm
http://rickrogers.org/setupoe.htm
http://vistasupport.mvps.org/accessing_newsgrousp_with-windows_mail.htm

How to Post:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Usenet
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375 - How to Ask a Question
http://users.tpg.com.au/bzyhjr/liszt.htm - How Not to Get Technical Help on
Usenet


http://aumha.org/nntp.htm - list of MS newsgroups
microsoft.public.test.here - MS group to test if your newsreader is working
properly
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/munad.htm - how to munge email address
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossposting - crossposting
http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm - multiposting

Other Newsreaders for Windows:
http://www.forteinc.com/main/homepage.php - Forte
http://www.mozilla.org - Thunderbird

Malke

 

[HeyBub]

When I receive notification that someone has responded to a question
I have posted on any of the communities, I get a blank page when I
click on the website in the notification. The only way I can access
the response is to log in and go to the community where I posted the
question. I did send a notice about this and got a e-mail back
stating that this would be corrected but evidently it has not been
taken care of as I had the same thing happen this morning. Does
anyone else have this problem?

Very few here experience that problem because we use newsreaders (i.e.,
Outlook Express) to interact with "communities."

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

When I receive notification that someone has responded to a question I have
posted on any of the communities, I get a blank page when I click on the
website in the notification. The only way I can access the response is to
log in and go to the community where I posted the question. I did send a
notice about this and got a e-mail back stating that this would be corrected
but evidently it has not been taken care of as I had the same thing happen
this morning. Does anyone else have this problem?

What you are calling a "community" is actually a newsgroup. The reason
you're having such problems is that you are using the awful web
interface to participate in this newsgroup--it's the slowest,
clunkiest, most error-prone method of using the newsgroups there is.
Do yourself a favor and switch to a newsreader, such as Outlook
Express, which comes with Windows XP, or Windows Mail, which comes
with Vista. See
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm

 

[Al Falfa]

When I receive notification that someone has responded to a question I
have posted on any of the communities, I get a blank page when I click
on the website in the notification. The only way I can access the
response is to log in and go to the community where I posted the
question. I did send a notice about this and got a e-mail back stating
that this would be corrected but evidently it has not been taken care
of as I had the same thing happen
this morning. Does anyone else have this problem?

I doubt you'll get anyone to email you when they've answered your
questions (I certainly won't). You're having this issue because you're
using the dreadful web interface to these newsgroups. A much better
solution is to use a real newsreader instead. This is very easy to set
up.

Since you are using the web interface, you may not realize that this is
really a newsgroup. You will get far more out of this resource if you
learn to use a newsreader...

Malke,
For informational purposes only:

The OP did not ask about *replies* via eMail, rather, *notifications*
of responses, via eMail from CDO itself, not from the responder.
See http://www.microsoft.com/wn3/locales/help/help_en-us.htm

"About the Web-based Newsreader
.... you can use the Web-based Newsreader to ... sign up to be notified
when someone has responded to a particular thread."

That page also asserts that these 'newsgroups' are 'forums' in the
'MSFT Community' and are accessible via The Web and via Usenet.

Also, all your good advice on using newsreaders is of no use to anyone
forced to use a 'public terminal'.

 

[Rage Skywolfe]

I get that occassionaly when I click on the link to read the responce from my
e mail. but I very rarely get it if I go directly through the browser. if you
get a oage cannot be displayed or service temporarily unavaible try a
different browser.

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

Nevertheless, the web-interface (especially Notification and links in such
Notifications) is unreliable at best. Malke offers a more productive method
of accessing these newsgroups: In a newsreader. (Notice the word "news" in
both?)

 

[Al Falfa]

I doubt you'll get anyone to email you when they've answered your
questions (I certainly won't). You're having this issue because you're
using the dreadful web interface to these newsgroups. A much better
solution is to use a real newsreader instead. This is very easy to set
up.
Since you are using the web interface, you may not realize that this
is really a newsgroup. You will get far more out of this resource if
you learn to use a newsreader...

Malke,
For informational purposes only:
The OP did not ask about *replies* via eMail, rather, *notifications*
of responses, via eMail from CDO itself, not from the responder. See
http://www.microsoft.com/wn3/locales/help/help_en-us.htm ...
That page also asserts that these 'newsgroups' are 'forums' in the
'MSFT Community' and are accessible via The Web and via Usenet.
Also, all your good advice on using newsreaders is of no use to
anyone forced to use a 'public terminal'.

Nevertheless, the web-interface (especially Notification and links in
such Notifications) is unreliable at best. Malke offers a more
productive method of accessing these newsgroups: In a newsreader.
(Notice the word "news" in both?)

Yes, I see 'news' in both, and I totally agree with Malke's excellent
advice on accessing these newsgroups.

However, it is a shame that MSFT wants to discontinue all NNTP access
to its forums, leaving only web-based access to the hyper-bloated
javascript-driven social.*.microsoft.com/* groups.

 

[Barbara]

Thank you all for your responses. I certainly do appreciate your inputs. I
am more or less a novice to the various programs, etc. on a computer. How do
I set up the news reader you all mentioned, etc. ? Thanks!

 

[Alister]

Thank you all for your responses. I certainly do appreciate your inputs.
I
am more or less a novice to the various programs, etc. on a computer. How
do
I set up the news reader you all mentioned, etc. ? Thanks!

This link (which was buried in the flurry from Malke) explains how to set up
Outlook Express or Windows Mail as a newsreader.

http://rickrogers.org/setupoe.htm

Alister

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

However, it is a shame that MSFT wants to discontinue all NNTP access

to its forums...

Where did you hear or read this? Yes, there are many MS forums which are
not available via NNTP (more's the pity) but unavailable NNTP access and
discontinued NNTP access are two different things.

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

To open this newsgroup in your default newsreader, just click on the
following link:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

Or see...

Setting up Outlook Express to access Microsoft newsgroups
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm

 

[Barbara]

In response to all of you. I thank your for your suggestions, etc. I have
posted about various computer problems to the correct newsgroups in the past
and had no problem accessing when I received a NOTIFICATION until this year.
I was not aware of what many of you suggested. I have not set up the news
group/mail on my computer as I have to contact the server to see who the NTTP
is.

 

[Alister]

In response to all of you. I thank your for your suggestions, etc. I
have
posted about various computer problems to the correct newsgroups in the
past
and had no problem accessing when I received a NOTIFICATION until this
year.
I was not aware of what many of you suggested. I have not set up the
news
group/mail on my computer as I have to contact the server to see who the
NTTP
is.

msnews.microsoft.com

Alister

 

[Al Falfa]

... it is a shame that MSFT wants to discontinue all NNTP access

Where did you hear or read this? Yes, there are many MS forums which
are not available via NNTP (more's the pity) but unavailable NNTP access
and discontinued NNTP access are two different things.

A few months ago, there was a technical discussion about some Windows
issue, which degenerated into a bitter feud between two warring camps:
(MSFT + fanbois) = pro-web-forums vs. (hardened Usenet veterans).
There were so many posts, that that the web-page was longer than my arm.

Several MSFT staff cited 'technical reasons' for discontinuing NNTP
access, and were selling the 'superior benefits' of web forums.

It was somewhere at social.*.microsoft.com/, I recall the 'social' bit
because I had never seen it before, and that discussion was far from
being socia(b)l(e). Prior to that I had seen 'forums.*.microsoft.com/',
but not since. That might narrow down the timeframe of the thread, unless
it was just an old thread which had been ported over to 'social.*'

I do not recall all the details, but it was definitely about 'pulling
the plug' from existing NNTP access.

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

Repeat: No "plug" has been "pulled" from any MS resources that have been
accessible via NTTP.

AFAIK, no one truly represents MS in the "social" newsgroups (which are
primarily moderated by MVPs and a few "MS Engineers," the latter of which do
NOT represent any Product Group.

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

<tease>
NNTP Bridge Client
http://www.codeplex.com/msdnforumsclient
</tease>

 

[Al Falfa]

No "plug" has been "pulled" from any MS resources that have been
accessible via NTTP.
<tease> NNTP Bridge Client
http://www.codeplex.com/msdnforumsclient </tease>

Instead of MSFT just providing NNTP access as they do for this NG, which
works nicely for me, I should download an executable which does not work:
'... this project is on hold ... latest release would not work at present'

Followed by a steep learning curve:
- Project Discussion: 19 pages of problems

In short, 100% FAIL! </brilliant>

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

Instead of MSFT just providing NNTP access as they do for this NG, which
works nicely for me, I should download an executable which does not work:
'... this project is on hold ... latest release would not work at present'

Followed by a steep learning curve:
- Project Discussion: 19 pages of problems

In short, 100% FAIL! </brilliant>

The fact that the NNTP Bridge Client version referenced on that page has
been pulled does not mean that development and beta testing of newer
versions has ceased, Mr. Falfa! <eg>