September 26, 2007 at 9:57 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Newsletter Changes
September 26, 2007 at 9:59 pm
I'm one of the few who read all (most) of the message on that list. But I understand this may cause some problems for you guys. YOu seem to have a few good alternatives. I really like the opton to chose this for yourself as a 2nd option of mailing. That would be my choice right now because I wouldn't have to change any habit... but I'm still teachable so you never know :P.
September 26, 2007 at 11:15 pm
I think it is a great idea. I used to read the section on users that need help but it just got so big that I became overwhelmed. If it was trimmed to just a few then I would be more likely to look at them.
Keep things short and sweet with just the best in the newsletter, after all if we want everything we can browse the site. Especially now that it has the cool new interface.
September 27, 2007 at 2:18 am
I like the new proposed layout. It's clean, tidy and easy to read.
Does "question of the day" still remain ?
I am also one of the people who never reads the threads section.
September 27, 2007 at 2:30 am
I'm one of those guys who reads the threads. Not all of them, not all the time but nine days out of ten. I read the ones on 2005 and 2008 (we are stuck on 2000 - don't ask) so I've got a clue when we do come to jump.
I find it interesting to know that not everyone gets it right every time. I do hate that phrase 'Its not rocket science'. It was to all of us at some point and still is to some of us.
:Whistling:
Madame Artois
September 27, 2007 at 5:34 am
Hi Steve,
I like the new format. I read the Users That Need Help section about once per week. If I subscribe I will probably take more time to read the forums and maybe answer a question here and there.
Great work - both you and the developers.
:{> Andy
Andy Leonard, Chief Data Engineer, Enterprise Data & Analytics
September 27, 2007 at 6:12 am
I have learned so much from the Users Who Need Help posts, I would hate to see it go away. And yes, it has gotten much longer, but isn't that the result of a change you made several months ago? Prior to that change, items only appeared the first time they were added to a forum. So you could read the post, decide if it was of interest, and mark it to receive updates. Now, any time a question is updated, it shows up in the Need Help section. So if you returned to the old inclusion formula, there probably wouldn't be as many items.
Another possibility for downsizing the section would be to list the subject only. Maybe that would force people looking for help to succinctly describe their problem there, instead of phrases like 'Please Help Me!!!!!'.
And if either of the above isn't possible, then I support a second newsletter.
Of course, the incredibly shrinking font I see in today's newsletter may solve the problem as well.:P
Mattie
September 27, 2007 at 6:15 am
If I'm reading it correctly, that last image is the new newsletter? I kind of liked having the little tease sentence of what each article is about. It gave me just a bit more information than the title to decide if I wanted to go on and read it. I think losing that will result in fewer click-throughs, not more.
However, the rest of it looks great and I like all the ideas that you've laid out.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning
September 27, 2007 at 6:18 am
I know this would take some extra time, but why not allow the users to subscribe to Forum sections they want to see in the newsletter. That way if I mainly do Reporting Services I can have the most recent posts from that forum show on the newsletter.
I usually scan through the entire section to see if there are any interesting threads, ones where I have had some experience, or ones dealing with a problem I am currently involved in so I would like to see them stay in some fashion. Even if it only includes the ones for the current release of SQL Server.
Jack Corbett
Consultant - Straight Path Solutions
Check out these links on how to get faster and more accurate answers:
Forum Etiquette: How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help
Need an Answer? Actually, No ... You Need a Question
September 27, 2007 at 6:21 am
I agree with the changes, particularly the user help-needed posts. Forums is a best-fit, and with the options you've described, it sounds like a win-win to me.
thanks for informing us.
Nate
September 27, 2007 at 7:35 am
I do enjoy the news letter. I try to read each morning I get to work.
You could remove most of the graphics because I don't even get them because my works e-mail server strips them of.
My concern about removing the forums is there will be less people answering them. Then because of the volume many question get missed.
Maybe just a summary count of new questions by forum categories and a quick link to a web page that shows new questions might be nice compromise.
David Bird
September 27, 2007 at 7:51 am
I think putting the discussion topics at the bottom has value. It reminds people that there are forums and they are frequently trafficed and that there are a lot of interesting discusssions going on. I could see condensing it some, but not sure I agree with removing it. I suspect the hard core discussion people will use the feeds but not most others. If feeds worked that well, you wouldnt need a newsletter!
I haven't explored the RSS options fully so this comment may not apply, but the two feeds I need are active topics and my topics. Others are nice to have if you only post occasionally, but those two match the way I use the site.
It's good to have the discussion. Allowing personalization of the newsletter seems like a good suggestion (MSDN does this, among others), or how about just giving users the option of a couple formats; current, proposed new, weekly digest?
More than most I appreciate that ads pay the bills and I (on behalf of End to End Training) still run ads in the NL so I'm biased towards it, but I hate to see the NL get bogged down with ads. I think 1-2 ads per NL is fair and even interesting to most users, they just need to be a good assortment of ads (but SQL Server & related ads only).
September 27, 2007 at 7:55 am
Everything sounds reasonable. I dont have time to read the forum posts, but I like the idea of being able to opt-in on a particular forum to see items I'm interested in.
Good luck and thanks
Doug
September 27, 2007 at 8:20 am
I'm also one of the people who scans the forum section of the newsletter once a week. Maybe once a week you could list the forum titles and the number of new messages in the past week for each one.
Thanks for the newsletter and all your work on the website.
Kyle
September 27, 2007 at 8:22 am
I'd vote for keeping the full number of the 'needing help' items, but condense it as others have suggested as in just listing the posts' subjects and not a portion of the description (that would trim about half the volume) or keep the section headers as a link to the main section of interest on the forum and then display a count of the new items in the section as whic is also a link that woud take you to the new\updated posts in the section over the past 24 hours. An example would be:
Reporting Services: Reporting Services (5,000) New: 8
Reporting Services: Administration (3,120) New: 2
I do like the new site in general - good job - except for my need for a magnifying glass as the page scrolls on...:)
maddog
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