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Tuesday, May 18, 2010

SharePoint Forums: So many to choose from, so little time

Question of the DayThere were a couple messages passed back and forth on twitter this morning about SharePoint forums. It started when I requested help on answering some questions on Stump the Panel. That’s when I started thinking about all the OTHER forums available for SharePoint users.

What forums are you asking, and answering, questions on?

I want to get a comprehensive list of SharePoint forums and make the list available so that you can quickly get your questions answered. My assumption is that each forum is covering a different segment of the SharePoint Community. Maybe… maybe not.

When I did a search on Google for “SharePoint Forums”, I didn’t get what I was looking for. There were a couple there, but nothing that the community has really taken to. It might have been the search terms, but let’s do it the old fashioned way.

Give me some input. What forums are you using? Why? Does a forum have a specific audience? Once I get the list started, I’ll move it into SharePoint and then give the community access so we can keep the discussion going.

Here are couple to get you started.

  1. SharePoint Products and Technologies on MSDN (TechNet)
  2. Stump the Panel on EndUserSharePoint.com
  3. SharePoint Overflow
  4. SharePoint Products and Technologies Discussion Group
    managed by Mindsharp at Yahoo
  5. Experts Exchange
  6. SPServices Forum on Codeplex
  7. SharePoint Products and Technologies on Yahoo
  8. SharePoint Experts on LinkedIn
  9. SPoint Forums
 

Please Join the Discussion

28 Responses to “SharePoint Forums: So many to choose from, so little time”
  1. Jay Simcox says:

    The two forums I typically use aside from STP are:

    SharePoint Products and Technologies discussion group managed by Mindsharp at Yahoo
    http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/sharepointdiscussions/

    Experts Exchange
    http://www.experts-exchange.com/Microsoft/Applications/MS-SharePoint/

  2. Lori says:

    I am mostly using SharePoint Overflow, but now and then I’ll jump on Stump the Panel or MSDN forums and answer a question or two. I like SharePoint Overflow because it seems less cluttered than MSDN. Stump the Panel is good, MSDN is of course well used, but sometimes seems overly cluttered with so many categories and questions. I don’t have a lot of free time, so the one I like the most gets the most attention.

  3. The discussion forums on Codeplex, specifically Marc’s for SPServices: http://spservices.codeplex.com/Thread/List.aspx

    Audience: SharePoint Superusers who are implementing jQuery and the SPServices library

  4. Marek R. says:

    There is a lot of content on StackOverflow that’s tagged with something SharePoint-related, although some people cross-post to SharePoint Overflow as well. I hate having to do this, but I typically search these two sites simultaneously…

    http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/sharepoint

    (Other SP tags: sharepoint2007, moss, moss2007, etc.)

  5. I’ll turn it around a little. Here are the forums I like *answering* questions on:
    * SPServices Discussions
    * SharePoint Overflow
    * Stump the Panel
    * MSDN’s SharePoint Design and Customization Forum

    The order of enjoyment is probably about right above, too. The questions tend to be the least thought out on MSDN, and I’m lucky that most of the ones that I get on SPServices tend to be more so. That, and usually people say something nice like “thanks” on SPServices. ;+)

    M.

    • > people say something nice like “thanks” on SPServices

      That’s critical, isn’t it? I’ve noticed that on Stump the Panel, too. When people get an answer, it would be really nice if they stepped back in for 30 seconds and said “Thanks, I’ve got it working now.”, instead of disappearing until they have another question.

      I think I’m starting to sound like my grandmother now, but that’s ok. I’m almost as old as she once was.

      Mark

  6. Xene (Kerri) says:

    I only visit Stump the Panel, I love the fact that I got in when you restructured it early this year and I’ve read every single post – Non-Geek that I am. I learn a lot, and when I’ve been gone for a day or two I almost panic if there have been 14 posts I’ve missed, what would happen if I fell behind and missed something vital? So maybe I’m getting a little geekier everyday?! I have tested other forums and I just don’t care for them. I try to leave the answers for the experts, and I wonder if that is what others do as well? Stump the Panel, as the name implies gives one the feeling that perhaps only experts are there to answer your questions, and certainly they are, Eric and Shalin are wonderful, plus all the other obviously brilliant SP professionals who always step in to lend a hand….(THANKS!!) BUT does that keep others from speaking up when a question is asked about “how do I do this the best way, or what is best practice for this, or does anyone use this to do this?” Does the very title of the forum keep ‘non-panel’ readers from participating?

    Personally, I would love a ‘Best Practices’ category added to the board. An area for discussions concerning taxonomy, governance, and overall bet practice scenarios. I have a myriad of questions to shoot out there as I work through a portal rebuild, but responses to similar questions under ‘Sharepoint for Non-Geeks” don’t get much input. Perhaps a note of invitation to participate would encourage others a bit too? I’m loyal either way!

    • Kerri,

      Very thought provoking. Who exactly is the panel?

      When I first started STP, I asked the authors if they would be willing to be moderators for specific sections. Then I went to the SharePoint Community and asked the same question. I think that’s what makes STP unique. The community has stepped up to help monitor the questions.

      I see many forums go dormant, not for a lack of questions but for an inability to keep up with the flow of questions. Somehow, STP has jumped the chasm and seems to be chugging along. As you say this is being driven by Eric, Shalin, Marc and a handful of others who check in daily.

      Does the name really scare people away from participating in the answers because they think only the “official” panel should be answering? I haven’t heard that one before. It doesn’t appear that way to me based up on the number of people contributing solutions.

      It would make an interesting study.
      Mark

      • Xene (Kerri) says:

        Perhaps it is just my take on the name, but there is a challenge there — ‘Just try to outwit the panel’ go ahead, give it your best shot…. “Stump the Panel.” With these great moderators, that is an elevated endeavour! I think at the very least the title implies that your problem is formidable, that you have done a general search on your topic, exhausted the public e-knowlege already out there and now you are turning to the ‘experts’. Those experts publish articles here, they are present on the forum, they participate all across the Sharepoint community (your names come up everywhere!) It can be a little intimidating. Does it keep people from witlessly posting? Maybe. But now that isn’t all bad either.

  7. Frank says:

    Eh, error on url on no 3…

  8. I am a frequent answerer (is that even a word?!) on the MSDN SharePoint Development and Programming forums, (http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sharepoint2010programming/threads and http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sharepointdevelopment/threads). They tend to be fairly busy and have a number of long term responders, like myself. Unfortunately, the questions can tend to be quite repetitive, especially on the 2010 side of things.

    Every now and then I will go on the SharePoint Overflow and answer a few questions, but only if someone puts it out on Twitter.

  9. Tom Resing says:

    I’m likely to ask or answer on the forum I think is most appropriate. Pretty much I stick to the overflow varieties or MSDN/Technet but sometimes I just ask and answer on twitter or through my blog.

  10. Ever since SharePointU went away, I’ve not found a reliable place other than MSDN/Technet.
    Normally though, I tend to just Google my question and I wind up finding answers on obscure blog posts here and there.

    I do have an RSS feed to the STP forums and read each and every post that comes through, and try and answer as much as I can, but I dont always have the time to do so as much as I’d like.

    - Dessie

  11. SharePoint Experts on LinkedIn is invaluable to end users and techies alike and is the best SharePoint group on LinkedIn. It has over 11 000 members and is very strictly governed so you won’t get spam postings and irrelevant answers, just solid, practical advice on daily SharePoint challenges.

    http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=42512&trk=anet_ug_hm&goback=.gsm_42512_1_*2_*2_*2_ltod_requests

    A new kid on the block is SPoint, almost 800 members now. It also has a forum section that will get better as adoption grows, but it’s gaining traction daily.

    http://spoint.me/forums/

  12. I have found the Yahoo discussion group “SharePoint Products and Technologies” to be active and informative. I personally haven’t had questions answered there, but I monitor it and see good information and discussions taking place. Several MVP’s are active on that ‘forum’. http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/sharepointdiscussions/

  13. Christophe says:

    I don’t even know half of the forums listed above!

    I am on Stump the Panel of course, and like Marek I often find myself reading answers on stackoverflow (for Web design questions).
    I like forums where a post is tagged when it has been answered, this helps a lot when looking through past questions (stackoverflow works like that).
    I don’t use Experts Exchange – is it worth paying to get SharePoint advice on that forum?

    • Jay says:

      Actually you don’t have to pay, if you accumulate a certain number of points each month by answering questions you get free premium access.

      To directly answer your question I would say yes it’s worth the cost of a subscription. There are some pretty sharp, very helpful folks there. I’ve always had good luck getting answers there.

  14. Ryan says:

    #5 Experts Exchange? Really? I pretty much have a permanent “-site:experts-exchange.com” in my google search ;)

    StackOverflow – is good but as so many SharePoint questions are hard to categorise as purely programming then that they are often not welcome – which leads to

    SharePointOverflow – has promise but not yet the traction

    How about a vote for http://suguk.org/forums/

  15. Alex Angas says:

    Thanks for suggesting SharePoint Overflow Mark, and also thanks to people that describe how they use these sites in the comments!

  16. Things I promise never to say to my kids:

    Hey, put that stick down before you put somebody’s eye out.
    Get down off that ladder before you break your neck.
    Don’t come crying to me if you fall in and kill yourself.

  17. And my #1 never to say to my kids…

    “Turn down that music!! Its too loud!!”

    - Dessie


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