Comments on: Why I Dislike Newsgroups

By: More Twitter Love | SQLRockstar

More Twitter Love | SQLRockstar — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:26:02 +0000

[…] while back I wrote a post about why I do not like newsgroups, and how much better the MVP forums are. Some comments were left that indicated I was being an ass […]

By: ServerFault.com - Like StackOverflow, but for IT | Brent Ozar - SQL Server DBA

Sun, 17 May 2009 14:59:41 +0000

[…] and newsgroups. I can’t do a better job of explaining why than Tom LaRock did in his post Why I Dislike Newsgroups, including this bullet point […]

By: David Benoit

David Benoit — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:28:54 +0000

Nice. I know I, and the others at that community, will appreciate your help. Yes, Gail, Grant, Jeff Moden, and other MVP’s have been huge and having one more is always nice.

Thanks!

By: SQLBatman

SQLBatman — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:26:25 +0000

David,

I agree, we should make an effort to stay involved in other communities. Many MVPs are quite active in public forums. Gail Shaw at SSC comes to mind immediately.

My involvement at SSC or in other public forums is sporadic at best. This is the result of the medium and format for interactions in forums do not suit my style or needs.

My dislike for newsgroups and forums do not make them a bad thing, it just means I have found other ways to help people when possible. My participation in the MVP forums has shown me just how good forums can be, and given me incentive to go back and become more active. Why, just yesterday, I posted to a forum at SSC.

And it felt good.

thanks.

By: David Benoit

David Benoit — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:59:08 +0000

I’m intrigued by your post. A little disheartened as well. You see, standing on the outside, not being an MVP that is, we don’t get to see that forum so, now we have someone telling us that the forums of all forums exists but, you can’t have it. 🙂

The main thing that I think applies here is that they are not all perfect. Some really bad but there are some, namely SSC, which really have some very strong SQL talent that strive to make a solid community that has helped tons of people in their careers as DBA’s and developers.

My encouragement to you and all MVP’s is to become active in other communities, outside of the MVP community so that you can help make a difference on a site and with those that haven’t reached the skill level that you and others have. You have that opportunity before you. I can honestly tell you that when Paul Randal posts something on SSC about a recovery question, I read it. I’m sure that the same could be said about you if you were on there or anywhere sharing the knowledge that you have attained.

Know what I mean? I have always thought that the best answer to a problem is a solution and I hope to be a part of that solution.

Thanks for the post.

By: SQLBatman

SQLBatman — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:33:08 +0000

In reply to Wendy.

wendy,

not sure how it comes across that way, since i do not participate in newsgroups yet somehow became an MVP. and no, i did not mean to imply that only the smart people are at the MVP forum, i really meant to say that the private forums are much more pleasant to work with than the public ones. it is the difference between taking the bus to the airport and a private town car.

so, you do not need to be active in forums to become an MVP, i am living proof.

hope this helps, and sorry if i offended you, or anyone.

By: Wendy

Wendy — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:17:07 +0000

So, there’s this great forum but you only get to use it if you’re an MVP, which means you’ve been answering questions on other forums where just the dumb people are?
I’m sure you didn’t really mean it that way, but from a non-MVP standpoint that’s what comes across.
For the record, I’ve only posted once or twice to the msdn forums, never seeing any answers to my questions. I’ve attempted to answer a few posts over the years on various boards, though most of the time the questions were already answered by others.
YMMV