Newsgroup Access

[B.Morris]

I tried the RSS feed in Thunderbird, and I guess it's ok if all I want to do is see what new things have been posted. If there is nothing in interesting, it will save me coming to the web page trying to figure out if there is anything new. Here are the things it doesn't do, that I can do with a newsreader: - Show me the order the messages were posted - Show the correct thread heirarchy (one "thread" for this topic is created for B.Robins, one for jlcrosby, one for NathanDTW, and the order within the "thread" is either random, or upside down) - Let me reply to a message - Let me sort by the person who posted the message (everything is posted by "MC Press Online Forum" )

[jlcrosby]

I have the same experience. RSS is in no way a substitute for newsgroups, for all the reasons you cite. My guess is no newsgroup access ever was planned, deliberately, because then you don't have to come to the website and see the ads. When newsgroup access was available, I was here every day reading. Without it, I will be history in very short order. These web forums just take way too much time. It's the reason I don't read the system i network forums either. -Jeff

[D.Abramowitz]

It should be noted that the value or usefulness of many things are not related to the date of conception of those things. When it comes to these fora, their usefulness may be measured by the flow of ideas eminating from a variety of participants. As the number of participants diminish, so does the value of the fora. Eventually there will be no participation, and the fora will have no value. So. . . . .Whether newsgroups are dated or not is irrelevant. The point to be made is that the newsgroups were useful. These new fora are not. Please return the old technology. The previous participants have passed judgement with their feet. New participants do not appear to be on the horizon. Please return to newsgroup technology so that the participant base may also return. Dave

[efnkay]

Ok...I finally have to ask this question. Was this whole new website put through any User acceptance beta testing? Any at all? If so, Who are they? And what ever made them sign-off on this functionality...er I should say...Functionality, as the lack thereof...??? Sorry, I'm slow to judge, but based on my experiences on this new site, and the critical posts about this site from other well known attendees...I'm guessing this website went through NO USER ACCEPTANCE testing or taret-audience-approval whatsoever. This should be taken as a direct SLAM to the web-heads that did this. Not the customer (MC) who paid for it. Folks, all programmers, all platforms, and all languages...IF YOU DON'T GET USER ACCEPTANCE at any level...DON'T ROLL IT OUT! Unless you like dealing with post implementation DISASTERS. Which is how I describe the recent history of what happened to this, The former best AS/400, ISeries, and formerly the world's best IBM midrange info and Q&A site. GONE! Because nobody remembered the tried and true best way to implement NEW stuff to any User community. Get the target audience to beta test it, get the feedback, fix it, and then you have a good basis for Rolling it out. Without that, You have what a couple of web-developers thought was pretty good. I'll bet they didn't go over the old site with any attention to current functionality. They at least could've gotten a grip on the existing functionality that worked so well before this web-disaster.

[efnkay]

I may be at or very near to my last visit and/or post to this site. Regretfully it doesn't look like any attention is being paid to the feedback they are getting through these forums about the new website. But I can assure you this...The number of hits on this site must be tumbling downward so fast, they will soon be counting the number of DAYS or WEEKS passed between posts. How's that working for your advertisers MC...???