The original GB is now gone

[barnabas1969]

I clicked the "me too" link on Rob's post (see link in post #39 above). Perhaps we should all do so.

[mark1234]

A bit of a non-reply reply has been posted now:

The GreenButton was changed to the Windows Experts Community which is turn was later dissolved and WMC is now supported here.

[Dragonfly]

I clicked the "me too" link on Rob's post (see link in post #39 above). Perhaps we should all do so.

Done. We're now up to 4.

[holidayboy]

Looks like the whole thing got nuked!

Actually deleting knowledge on purpose in this day and age???

What type of person burns books in order to make room on the book shelf?

How big could the database have been?

Even getting hold of an old backup from 2011 or something would be better than nothing....

We all know that MS have no interest in improving MC in any way, but I really didn't see this coming.

If I had then I'd have been copying the old threads over to here one by one - by hand for the last two years!

Very bad form imho.

[mark1234]

Actually deleting knowledge on purpose in this day and age???

They probably assumed the NSA or google would have a backup.

[holidayboy]

To be fair, they probably do!

[barnabas1969]

The guy who has been replying is a forum moderator and MS MVP (but has not identified himself as working for Microsoft). Not sure if he is the final word on the subject, but here is what he wrote:

Hi,

Best to contact Microsoft Customer Service.

Call Microsoft Customer Service direct - 1-800-642-7676 - hours 5 AM
til 9 PM PST time (USA) - Saturday and Sunday, 6:00 AM – 3:00 PM
PST time (USA). In Canada, call (877)568-2495.

Contact Microsoft Customer Service
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/295539

Microsoft - Contact Us by Email
http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/ ... %2csupport

Hope this helps.
Rob Brown - Microsoft MVP

The above quote was in reply to what I wrote:

Yes, I'm aware of that. But much of the information on the experts.windows.com site did not exist elsewhere. We are actually hoping that a Microsoft employee can answer this question. If Microsoft is unwilling to at least put those forums back up on the Internet in a read-only format, we hope that they might be able to provide the database from those forums so that the information can be loaded elsewhere.

Does anyone think it would be worthwhile to contact Microsoft as he suggested?

[holidayboy]

I guess a well thought out, positive and pleasant sounding query is worth a shot?

I think we're banging our heads against a very hard wall though

[STC]

...Taking wagers...
Their IP stays in the archives for ever more.

[glugglug]

Looks like the whole thing got nuked!

Actually deleting knowledge on purpose in this day and age???

What type of person burns books in order to make room on the book shelf?

It's been the modus operandi for at least 10 years now.
When .NET got out of beta in 2003, a lot of the info on regular Win32 APIs was removed from MSDN, in order to push people towards the new platform.


I had a crazy thought. The original GB and the guide data stopped within a week of each other. What if they are coming from the same server being taken down?

[glugglug]

To be fair, they probably do!

There is always the wayback machine: http://web.archive.org/web/201210281340 ... fault.aspx

Although I could swear I've even seen information disappeared from there in recent years.

[STC]

Unfortunately it's very slow and not complete.

[barnabas1969]

Unfortunately it's very slow and not complete.

Yeah... you can find a thread... but when you click to go to the next page, it often doesn't find the next page. Useless.

[STC]

http://cybernetnews.com/microsoft-buys- ... en-button/

[spanner]

http://cybernetnews.com/microsoft-buys- ... en-button/

That was a fun read

[STC]

...and why not...

http://arstechnica.com/information-tech ... en-button/

[spanner]

...and why not...

http://arstechnica.com/information-tech ... en-button/

I love this quote :
Microsoft was the only one that had the "right resources and attention" and "who shared the same views and saw the importance of maintaining this vibrant community. They were also the only one that was truly interested in keeping what we have intact."

[holidayboy]

Still hard to believe it's all gone.

Just like that.

What a waste.

Mcx on PS4?!?!

[makryger]

Ha, funny article. I wonder where this Dan Sterling guy is now?

[barnabas1969]

Ha! M$ was... "the only one that was truly interested in keeping what we have intact" What a joke! Did they not see the dollar signs?