Is this forum going to replace the NNTP newsgroups, or not?

[Breck_Carter]

Questions get answered here, of that there is no doubt.

The problem is, very few questions get asked here, far fewer than on the NNTP newsgroups.

---

Welllll... ?

[MarkCulp]

Its interesting that you updated this questions today... as I was just talking to Graeme about this topic this morning! As you might guess we have been busy working on other things (hint: Fuji aka OnDemand Edition) and as a result we have not made much progress on the newsgroups.

[VolkerBarth]

@Mark: Anything you can tell besides "wait and see"?

---

My personal impressiona from the last months has made me not expecting this step to come soon, as the NGs still get significantly more questions - where both numbers are rather low. - Though that's fine with me:)

[MarkCulp]

Its on our list of things to get done...

but obviously we're not there yet.

[Breck_Carter]

That sounds like a "hope" answer rather than a "yes" or "no". The real answer is "can't", isn't it? (but you can't say that 🙂

[MarkCulp]

It is going to happen... I just can't tell you the date right now until we are closer to completing the work.... (because I don't know the date).

[Breck_Carter]

A year is a long time on the internet, isn't it? 🙂

[MCMartin]

Maybe a regular reminder in the newsgroup that this forum exists would help.

[VolkerBarth]

Though Chris has made clear when he announced the forum in the NGs that the forum is an alternative, and the NGs will remain...

That made me think that the NNTP import is not that sure to happen. But of course Mark's clear statement has taken away that suspicion.

[philippefbertrand]

I agree regular reminders would help. I have it in my signature whenever I post in the NGs. Personally I think it would be great if we dropped the newsgroups.

Is the forum searchable by Google like newsgroups are?

[VolkerBarth]

I'm quite surprised the NGs are said to be searchable by search engines...if so, my typical search results have been way below my expecations. (Any searching with news readers like Thunderbird has not been very helpful in my humble experience, either).

I think the searchability is one of the biggest advantages of this web-based forum. Personally, I also like the builtin search facility:)

[philippefbertrand]

You are right, I guess ages ago I used DejaNews or some other form of web nntp searching.

[former_SQLA_member1694871]

I agree with you Volker. I think this web-based forum is much nicer then using the NNTP groups. (Some other web based forums not so much).

With that said, I've always had great results searching google groups with what they have backed up from the Sybase NNTP groups. Been able to find information really quickly.

Hope Sybase does end up moving it completely.

[VolkerBarth]

Oh, I really had forgotten the google groups search facility. I've used it some time ago regularly, but often found that it lost current NG threads - and that was a real showstopper for my part...

[Breck_Carter]

Google effectively destroyed Google Groups when they redesigned it a year (?) or two ago. Google Groups Search was broken before that and remained broken. I still use Google Groups Search occasionally... when I am desperate for an ancient answer... it is the only NNTP search game in town.