Things I wish Improved At Bing Community

I've been a member here from the first day Bing opened its doors to the public. Actually I learned about Bing before unveiling it to the public at the MSDN Blog. And I enjoy being a part of this growing phenomenon. However, there are things I believe should be modified, in order to make here better for all.

1) Edit Function: Sometimes after replying to a thread, I find out that my reply has some grammatical errors that need to be corrected. This script doesn't provide such functionality. vBulletin has that option that allows a poster to edit his/her post within a given time frame. It doesn't mean a poster will be given the luxury of endless time to edit his/her post. We need this feature here.

2) Sticky: In popular forums on the Internet there's something they call "Sticky" posts that remain on top of main entrance pages and can never be pushed out of their positions by other posts or threads. The purpose of Sticky is to be very visible and imposing enough to compel new members to read it before making their posts. It prevents people from posting questions that have been treated numerous times and resolved. When you count the countless number of people who opened new threads to ask why they were unable to add sites at the Bing Webmaster Center, you will understand why the Webmaster Center Staff or the moderators here were supposed to post a sticky. Sticky is also used to stipulate the rules and guidelines of every section of communities. We need Sticky here, please.

3) Member Page URL: I noticed that I have two different URLs pointing to my member page. For example, If I make a post at the forum section, it points to the following as my member page: http://www.bing.com/community/members/Quality-Directory/default.aspx .  At the blog section, it points to: http://www.bing.com/community/user/Profile.aspx?UserID=196846 . The content of both pages is the same, and I know as a developer this is duplicate content, in the eyes of search engines. I suggest using only the first URL for everything concerning my membership here. The first URL is search engine-friendly, while the latter is not. So, why use the latter? This issue is not unique with me. It's the same with every member. We want to maintain only the search engine-friendly member URLs.

4) Captcha: Even after login I cannot browse the site as fast as I want to be. This is because the site started using sessions which count the number of seconds one spends before navigating to a new web page. If I attempt to be faster, it will demand that I fill in a captcha form. It happens to me several times everyday, and it's becoming too unbearable. I know the purpose of this captcha is to remove bots from navigating the site, but it is causing a lot of inconveniences to genuine members. I literally cannot stand it anymore.

EXCELLENT POST!  I would have to agree with all of the points (especially #4).  I would also like to add one about better moderation.  There is way to much spam on these forums.  It is almost to the point we I do not want to come back.  Besides how many handbags can one guy buy :) ?

Joseph, thanks for your kind remarks. Moderation is always good in a big community like this, but members first need to see some laid down rules to abide by it.

Please, lay down easily accessible rules for the members. Defaulters need to get from minor infractions to banning. With rules in place people seem to be more careful with their actions.

Thank you for starting this topic, Quality Directory! I agree with every point you made except the first one: we can edit our posts: 'More' button -> Edit -> voilà!

What bothers me a little at the moment:

1.   Email me replies to this post feature is set as default, and if you forget to uncheck it (as I allways do ;-)), you'll have your mailbox full of automated messages form Bing forums. Sometimes it can be pretty irritating... And there is no chance to unsubscribe!

2. I don't understand, why I have to click on older > , to see newer posts and viceversa :-) 

3. Tag selection tool have to be strictly moderated imho. I saw there (sorry): whore, sex toys etc. 

Hi All,

Thanks for your feedback on the Bing Community. We are continuously trying to improve the experience in the Bing community.

The sticky posts and the captcha issues are being addressed and we hope to have some movement with these soon. I will add the edit function and the url issue into our next round of items to address.

Thanks again for taking the time to provide feedback on the community.

Kristin - Bing Community Manager

Another thing is when I subscribe for a thread, I get automated emails sent to me for my own posts. It's even more annoying when the email is sent to me after opening a new thread.

Kristin, are you really the Bing Community Manager? Is there any proof?

@Quality Director...I will add this to the list as well. Hmmm...proof. Well, I am working on a sticky post for the forums so you will see my signiture there and I often post the Search Blog. Also, as these fixes get implemented you will have to know that someone was traking these conversations.

Let me know if that will work for you :)

Hi Kristin, I will be so glad for these improvements to be implemented. I didn't mean to put you down by doubting your authority. There's no differentiation between administrators and ordinary members. In vBulletin-based forums, they have unique images placed right underneath the avatars of administrators/moderators. That's the way members know for sure when they're dealing with someone with authority. Implementing such feature here will be great.

No problem! I love this idea and will add it to the list. Thanks again for your feedback!

-Kristin

Hi Kristin,

I will like to know the improvements you've made so far. I'm yet to notice any difference.

I think captcha form should be removed for members that have more than 500 post.

I really don't know why it's taking them too long to rectify all these issues.

apo:

I think captcha form should be removed for members that have more than 500 post.

Hello,

a real improvement would be the exclusion of so called SEOs, i. e. search engine optimizers. The spam in this community would disappear.

Hi guys,

Kristin is my counterpart in these other forums and is actually in charge of any developments and improvements within the bing.com/community platform ( all blogs and forums).  

We have agreed that as long as the post moves the conversation forward and is not blatant spam or direct advertising of their services, we don't mind if users provide a link to their site in the signature line or within the body of the post if they are trying to show a legitimate example.

That said,

I do my best to hunt down spam posts while reviewing the webmaster forum posts. If you find blatant spam and would like to report it, please send me an email at bwmc@microsoft.com and I will review it/delete it as necessary.  

Thanks for your input. I value the support you've provided to the other forum users.

~Brett