Microsoft Technical Community vs. Microsoft Q&A

[Reza_Ameri]

Hi,

As we know , Microsoft TechNet and MSDN forum are being replace with Microsoft Q&A forum and you may ask your technical questions there. Then we have this Microsoft Technical Community and in both forums we have discussions and questions about products for IT Professionals, I am wondering what are differences and where is the best place to ask a question?

For example, in case you have an issue with Active Directory, should you post it on Microsoft Technical Community or Microsoft Q&A?

[#2]

https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/pl/msdn-platforms/
Maybe it will be helpful because MTC is in my opinion a discussion forum and certainly not technical support for a particular Microsoft product!
Please map what you think?

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/products/

[#3]

I also noticed there are technical questions are being asked here and they are being answered by the community and Microsoft too.

I believe there is a need to differentiate them to avoid confusion like ask all technical questions in Microsoft Q&A (IT and Developer) and Microsoft Answers (Consumer) and general discussion (no technical questions in the Microsoft Technical Community).

[#4]

@Reza_Ameri

Yes I agree with you, but how to do it? It is the users who choose the place to ask! 

Surely it is difficult for everyone to make inquiries were ultimately in the most appropriate place! It is not possible to move them automatically because the questions are often unclear and only the discussion helps to understand the problem

[#5]

@Deleted 

In case this is decision by the forum, they could advise user to redirect users. For example, I am active in both Microsoft Answers and Microsoft Q&A. However, when I see consumer question in Microsoft Q&A , even though I know the answer, I advise the user to ask it in the Microsoft Answers. When I saw technical question in Microsoft Answers, I asked user to post it on Microsoft Q&A (even when I know the answer). This way most technical questions will be placed in the Microsoft Q&A and consumer questions will be placed in the Microsoft Answers. In case we know the scope of this forum we may redirect users accordingly . It would be easier for users and they will know where to search for what topic.

[#6]

Yes it would be very good, but such responsible behavior in the MTC is in my opinion not frequent, and the author of the query can judge negatively such a redirect!
The whole thing is not simple and unequivocal - such a discussion is very necessary.
Thank you for the topic.

[#7]

True, glad you think this is an interesting discussion.
Let see if there are any other comments and feedbacks.

[#8]

Properly directing home consumers and IT professionals to the right place is really needed!
and requires a precise explanation in the MTC

[#9]

Good points, personally I believe integrity of data is necessary like instead of searching the entire web or multiple websites, we will know where should we search for what contents?

[#10]

@Reza_Ameri 

Yes, But we will not improve the necessary commitment of Microsoft!

Even no one in this discussion supports us!

[#11 · Accepted solution]

@Reza_Ameri 

Thanks for the question, I totally understand why this maybe confusing. The Microsoft Tech Community focuses on IT Professionals, Developers and corporate customers and it is not primarily focused on support. Specially we like to encourage this audience to share best practices and provide feedback to product groups.

There are, of course, some official spaces for support of consumer products at https://support.microsoft.com or https://answers.microsoft.com and customers of those products would be best to ask their questions there. 

Microsoft Q&A tends to be more of "Ask a question, get an answer" format where as the Microsoft Tech Community is a space to discuss with your peers, Microsoftees, MVPs and MCTs. I wouldn't necessarily redirect a user to Q&A over the Microsoft Tech Community, unless the question has already been answered on Q&A.

Feel free to let us know if there is any thread where you are not sure, but use as a guiding rule that if someone has asked a question here that we should answer it here unless its either a consumer product or one of the specialist communities (i.e. PowerBI, PowerApps, Dynamics 365 or Xbox)

Allen

[#12]

@Allen 

Hello!

Thank you for your explanation, I think it would be good to pin this topic here so that it was all the time for inspection – because it will help everyone to communicate properly in the MTC, or direct your inquiries else way!  

[#13]

Hi @Allen 

Thank you for your explanation, I believe at some point in future, there is a need to differentiate them , so at the moment users would be able to ask question here or in forums and we would have two different data source which is not a good user experience unless there is a unified search mechanism like when we search it search MTC, Microsoft Q&A and Microsoft Answers, so users will only search in one place.

You mentioned about sharing the feedback but I experience in most cases, Microsoft tell us to share our feedback through other means like feedback options in the product or Feedback Hub app. 

[#14]

yes.
This whole thing requires multifaceted analysis and requires the cooperation of many Microsoft teams. There really can be people confused because most MTC members are volunteers!