Forum Discussion
This is the worst forum I have ever used (in 40 years!)
I have been contributing to "internet" forums since the BBS days (i.e. before the internet per se).
The organization of this forum is the worst I have ever seen.
I struggled to find this subforum in order to post a question (later).
At the very least, there should be an FAQ link at the top, and/or a link to a how-to file.
__I__ did not "confirm" any response as "best response". IMHO, it is fraudulent to make to it appear that I did.
I was able to correct that by removing the "best response" mark. It better not happen again.
- Allen
Community Manager
All,
this thread has a risk of becoming incredibly long and not overly productive. I appreciate everyone feedback, but I am going to close off additional comments. If anyone has any related topics to discuss on the community please start a new thread.
I will, obviously, keep in mind all that has been said here as we prepare for the next Technology stack.
Allen
- AllenJoe,
Thank you for your feedback, the community structure is complicated. We cover over one hundred Microsoft products and product areas and, while we have tried to keep the community simple to find the product you want to share your experience and knowledge on, the nature of such a large structure is it is a fight to keep it organized in a logical fashion.
Could we do better? Yes definitely and if you have specific thoughts around this, I would be happy to take them away.
Your feedback on getting access to an FAQ is a good one but real estate at the top of the community fold is at a bit of a premium. What we can, and should do, is put a link to the 'Getting Started' documentation in the welcome email users receive when they first sign up.
I will add that to our backlog.
Anyway, I hope you're not feeling as frustrated now and if there is anything we can do to help you please do not hesitate to comment here.
Allen Smith
Technical Lead
Microsoft Tech Community- Mr Smith.....as an addendum, I just looked at that "premium real estate" on the Home page, and it's your opinion, Upcoming Events is more important than indoctrinating a new member with a FAQ page?? Seriously?.....again, smh.....
" @JoeUser is correct.....this community is horribly confusing. There is no FAQ page anywhere on the Home page, and because that important piece of information is missing it's a real problem figuring out how to go about the basics, like making a post."
Hello , This is a necessary discussion - thank you for your feedback.
I agree that it is difficult for new Members and I think Microsoft will fix it quickly!
- Mr Smith, with all due respect, those of us outside the business world don't rely on email like in years past. Used to be, the first thing I'd do when getting up in the am was check my email. Now days, the first thing I do is check my texts and voice mail. Also, that mention about "real estate being a premium" at the top of the page.....I'd settle for seeing a FAQ list ANYWHERE on the first page. Surely that's a possibility? Or is this an example of "being settled in one's ways?"
- @JoeUser is correct.....this community is horribly confusing. There is no FAQ page anywhere on the Home page, and because that important piece of information is missing it's a real problem figuring out how to go about the basics, like making a post. As a new comer I'd like to know how to ask a question, and in the most appropriate thread for my topic. No where is that to be found. It's hard for me to fathom why the FAQ page wasn't made an integral part of the Home page on this website from DAY ONE. I simply shake my head in wonder.
I've been online for 23 years and have used community forums for technical questions an untold number of times during all these years and, believe me, this forum is definitely at the bottom of any I've ever been on. Someone has to take a good, hard look at what a new person sees when they come here, and, then, make some changes that will clarify, solely for new people, how to navigate this website. Folks who have been coming here for long periods know where everything is so they don't need instructions on how this community works, but new people, like myself, do.- Allen
Thank you for taking time to join the discussion, I appreciate everyone's perspectives and always love to learn about problems anyone has encountered with the community. I would like to comment on some of the things you have mentioned.
- The Microsoft Tech Community focuses on the IT Pros, Devs and system administrators. As such we are working to deliver a community that works for people who work in these areas. As you rightly say outside businesspeople don't rely on emails that much but given the target audience for the Microsoft Tech Community it seems reasonable that we should add the getting started to our welcome emails. I appreciate you tend to user texts and voicemail, I have to say in my experience I have never found a community forum that uses these mediums for delivering welcome messages, in any market area, happy to be wrong.
- Could we put something on the homepage? Yes of course we could but it probably wouldn't make sense to keep it there forever so it would probably make sense to make it something that disappears after you achieve a certain rank.
- The primary navigation of the site takes you through the most common things you can engage with in the community, that is: Communities, Blogs, Events, Microsoft Learn, the community lounge and is already very busy across the screen sizes we support. Events are a very popular aspect of engagement on the Microsoft Tech Community.
In summary, we hear you on the onboard experience and we are working on a new experience which we will roll out during 2022, along with some other significant updates to the community.
I will however take away the feedback we have received here and see what we can do to make it easier between now and the new UI / UX being ready to ship.
You have provided some very serious and honest feedback, however I would also encourage you to avoid making comments about any community member being "stuck in their ways", as its not constructive or respectful.
I will of course update this thread as we make any changes that come about as a result of this feedback.Allen Smith
Technical Lead
Microsoft Tech Community
- The Microsoft Tech Community focuses on the IT Pros, Devs and system administrators. As such we are working to deliver a community that works for people who work in these areas. As you rightly say outside businesspeople don't rely on emails that much but given the target audience for the Microsoft Tech Community it seems reasonable that we should add the getting started to our welcome emails. I appreciate you tend to user texts and voicemail, I have to say in my experience I have never found a community forum that uses these mediums for delivering welcome messages, in any market area, happy to be wrong.
Deleted .... My comment is unconstructive. It was posted out of frustration.
If you delete your response, I might be able to delete the thread.
"If you delete your response, I might be able to delete the thread."
Please do not propose this to other Members - as this is not in accordance with the MTC Code
Best regards
Deleted wrote: ``this [deleting the thread] is not in accordance with the MTC Code``
And where exactly is that "code" (forum rules). That is an example of my complaint: I cannot find these very basic elements of an online forum. Maybe I'm just not looking hard enough (sigh).
Be that as it may, I suspect that you would also object to my "editing" the original posting by deleting its contents. I'll leave "well-enough" (poor-enough? wink) alone.
