It can be a pretty daunting task to put together a Web site all by yourself, especially if youve never built one before. Sure, there are books, magazines, built-in Help, online Help, and more, but it often helps most to have a human beingor a whole community of human beingsto ask specific questions of, and quickly get accurate answers from.
Microsoft has the perfect (and totally free) solution in its FrontPage discussion groups also known as newsgroups.
What are discussion groups?
For those who are new to the subject, a discussion group is something like a Web site for messages. Users can browse the available groups on the server, download the headers of the articles, post new messages, and reply to message threads. A thread is a message that begins the topic and all the messages that reply to it or any of its replies.
You can access the Microsoft Product Support discussion groups by using your browser or you can use a newsreader, like Microsoft Outlook Express.
Find links to information about which would be better for you in the See Also box, which also has links to other information about participating in discussion groups.
Why use discussion groups?
There are several good reasons to use Microsoft discussion groups:
- Not only are Microsoft public support discussion groups freethey are user friendly. All you need is a browser to connect to them. It is quite easy to subscribe to discussion groups, read messages, reply to messages, and start new threads.
- Many people visit discussion groups, particularly the Microsoft support discussion groups, so your question may be looked at by thousands of people. This means youre very likely to get help.
- Microsoft MVPs (Most Valuable Professionals) voluntarily help people use Microsoft products, mostly by participating in the various Microsoft support communities. At any time, at least one if not a dozen MVPs specializing in a software product may be online. There are currently 24 FrontPage MVPs.
- In many discussion groups, Microsoft support personnel spend a certain amount of time providing free support
- Your answer may reach you within minutes of posting it. This is certainly the case in the microsoft.public.frontpage.client discussion group, the most widely used FrontPage support discussion group.
- By regular participation in a discussion group, you become a recognized member of a community where you can get support when you need it and lend support when you can. You can never have too many friends!
How to get an answer
Of course, participating in discussion groups is beneficial in many ways, but you probably are most interested in solving your problem in the least amount of time. Sometimes questions are answered in minutes. And some questions spawn threads that go on for days before the problem gets resolved, if ever.
What differentiates between these outcomes? The difference is in the messages themselves. There are practices you can employ when using discussion groups for support that will ensure you a quick and accurate reply.
Find the right discussion group
There are hundreds of thousands of discussion groups. Microsoft alone sponsors several thousand of them. In some cases, Microsoft has created several discussion groups for a single product, particularly when the amount of traffic for the product becomes excessively heavy. FrontPage is one of those products.
There are four FrontPage discussion groups on the msnews.microsoft.com news server. The most popular is the microsoft.public.frontpage.client discussion group, a discussion group for just about anything relating to FrontPage. Because this discussion group gets a lot of traffic, Microsoft created three more for special types of problems.
If your problem falls into one of the following categories, you should post to the discussion group for that category:
Keep In Mind
Microsoft is discontinuing all support for front page extensions. This is why we will be picking up support for those who wish to keep and use front page extensions.
If you would like to add your comments questions and or get support for frontpage you may also post your questions here with ShadowTech, LLC
- microsoft.public.frontpage.addins is for questions about FrontPage add-ins from Microsoft as well as third-party add-ins.
- microsoft.public.frontpage.programming is for questions and problems with programming. This can mean just about anything related to programming, such as problems with JavaScript, server-side ASP or Microsoft ASP.NET, or programming FrontPage by using macros.
- microsoft.public.frontpage.serverextensions.windowsnt is for questions specifically relating to the FrontPage Server Extensions from Microsoft. This can include problems with publishing, opening, and managing Web sites, as well as issues involving FrontPage components.
Practice good "Netiquette"
Before the Internet was the sophisticated whirlwind of technology that it is today, it was a medium for communication and collaboration. As people participated in discussion groups and other similar types of messaging mediums, a group of informal rules of conduct began to emerge that early on were dubbed Netiquette (for Internet etiquette).
In discussion groups, good Netiquette is avoiding such practices as cross-posting (posting the same message to multiple discussion groups in a shotgun attempt to get more responses) and re-posting (posting the same message multiple times to the same discussion group to get more responses), and other similar courtesies. Mostly, Netiquette is a matter of common sense, corresponding to rules of social conduct.
Violating Netiquette can get you ostracized, especially if you dont heed the warnings people will give. So be a good Netizen (Internet citizen) to get the best response.
Search first
It is amazing how often the question of how to prevent theft of images from a Web site comes up in the microsoft.public.frontpage.client discussion group. It must be asked about twice a week, and it always generates a spate of replies. Of course, the answers are always the same, and it wastes everyones time to reply, although they do so out of courtesy.
Most news reader software includes some kind of search engine. Before you post a question, see if that topic has been covered already. If you do repost a question, you will most likely get an answer, but you will also irritate the community, which is not conducive to getting answers when you need them.
To avoid irritating a discussion group community, search first. Quite often, you will find that your problem has been discussed recently. After all, youre using the same software product as everyone else on the discussion group, and chances are you arent the first to find yourself in the situation where you need questions answered.
Use a meaningful title
The title of your message is all that is initially downloaded by a news reader, so your title should communicate something about the nature of your problem so that those in the discussion group who are knowledgeable about your issue will read it.
Often there are many, many messages posted in a single day, especially in FrontPage discussion groups, and nobody has time to read them all. Typically, MVPs and other helpful professionals scan the message titles to decide which ones to read.
Avoid using special characters, all caps (called SHOUTING), lots of exclamation points, and other spam-like practices to draw attention to your message. This is a violation of Netiquette that will attract the wrong kind of attention to your message, and to you. It and wont help you get an answer. Just make the title clear and descriptive. Almost every question posted to these discussion groups gets at least one answer.
Examples of bad message titles:
- FrontPage (Not descriptive enoughquite a few messages are posted with this title.)
- Help (Not descriptive enoughof course you want help.)
- !!!*****PROBLEM WITH PUBLISHING*****!!! (Avoid the use of exclamation points and all caps to try to get attentionthis use of spam like techniques are generally not appreciated in the discussion groups.)
Examples of good message titles:
- Pictures show in Design View, but not after Publishing
- How can I change my Theme?
- Unable to connect to Access Database after publishing
Describe your problem completely
One of the biggest mistakes people make when posting a question is not describing their problem completely. It is best to assume that your audience knows nothing about what youre doing. FrontPage is used in many different environments, and others may not make the same assumptions you do about what youre doing, how, and why.
Start from the beginning when describing your problem. What did you do initially? Did you, for example, open a Web site in FrontPage, or did you open a single page? If you were working with a site, was it server-based or disk-based? If you are a novice and dont know the answers to some of these types of questions, describe your actions in as much detail as you can. Dont feel embarrassed to include seemingly irrelevant details. The more information you furnish, the better.
If you receive an error message, describe the error message in detail. What were you doing when it occurred? What was the exact error message? Was there a number associated with the error? Youd be surprised how many people omit the error message altogether.
Avoid invented terminology
Nobody can be expected to know the correct terminology for every new feature or piece of technology, but if you dont know the correct term for something, dont invent one. Instead, describe what you are referring to. People who post messages with incorrect terminology make interpreting their question much more difficult. Again, the rule is, the more you describe something, the better.
In a thread, quote the message you reply to
Because many news readers allow you to view only unread messages, it is always best to quote any message in a thread to which you post a reply. It may be difficult for the responder to un-hide the read messages to figure out which topic this message is about.
Along the same lines, it isnt a good idea to change the title of the thread when you post a response. When the responder has read messages hidden, the new title may be cryptic and impossible to identify. For example, if a message is titled, Why does everyone call them Hoover Buttons? you would want to reply with a messages titled, Re: Why does everyone call them Hoover Buttons rather than, for example, Its an inside joke.
Remember that there are lots of messages out there. You want people to read and follow your threads. Make it as easy as you can for people to read and follow your threads.
Dont continue an old topic in a new thread
In a discussion group, messages are grouped into threads for a reason. A thread represents a conversation of posts and responses between two or more individuals. Related messages are identified with threads.
Unfortunately, some people respond to a message in a thread by posting a new message, thereby starting a new thread. Even if the poster quotes the message being responded to, it is still extremely difficult for others to find related messages in the entire discussion group.
Occasionally, a thread seems to spawn a new topic. In this case, it may be appropriate to start a new thread. That is, of course, the decision of the person who wants to begin a separate discussion of the related topic.
Consider the source (of a reply)
A discussion group is a worldwide public forum. There are no guards at the door to keep out the riffraff. Microsoft discussion groups are monitored to a certain extent, and you should find them quite friendly in general. However, anyone can post a reply to your question, so its always best to make sure you understand the answer and consider the source.
Microsoft MVPs identify themselves, and you can generally trust their answers. Find links to a list of the current FrontPage MVPs and general information about the MVP Program.
In some groups, Microsoft employees also spend a certain amount of time, and they usually identify themselves as well.
Keep in mind, however, the focus of discussion groups is peer-to-peer support, and there are no guarantees that the help that is offered will solve your problem.
Summary
Microsoft has invested a great deal of effort in providing the best free software support available from any software company. The MVP Program provides an army of real professionals who use Microsoft software every day and voluntarily help others to use Microsoft products successfully.
The Microsoft Product Support Discussion groups are the place to find the MVPs and other members of the community of people who use FrontPage and other software products.
Participating in the Microsoft Product Support Discussion groups is a good idea for many reasons. You can get reliable help with any problems you may have. You may even stay to participate in the community and help build a network of professional associates and friends. Knowing how to use the discussion groups properly will ensure that you get the fastest possible support you need. Be a good Netizen and a good communicator, and you will go far.
Helping Everyone With Free Education
ShadowTech, LLC
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Posted - 12/20/2008 : 9:09:06 PM
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