MSN Groups

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MSN Groups Home

MSN Groups is a commercial community site created by Microsoft in 1995. Users can join & create groups using an MSN Passport or Windows Live ID.

History

  • Since 1995. there were various communities on MSN, and they were all run by MSN and had REAL newsgroups and REAL IRC chat rooms. There were not easily updatable and only MSN Communities staff Members could access anything to update the one page that each "community" had. There was one for every generic interest.
  • Around 1998-9, MSN created the Homepages which were real web sites much like Tripod or Geocities. These had no message boards or chat rooms etc. attached. MSN did away with these homepages around 2001-2 somewhere - not too long after they brought in the Custom Pages and File cab (later called Documents) in MSN Communities (see next paragraph) - which was later called Groups.
  • The "make your own group" Communities came into being in summer of 1999. That's when they did away with the REAL newsgroups too - and the real IRC chat rooms. Message boards were added, and the chatrooms, and one 'customizable' homepage and photo albums. Gradually, the list pages, custom pages and documents pages were added.

Features list

  • Members of MSN Groups can use and contribute to message boards, document folders, photo albums and list pages. Some areas may only be accessible to administrators/managers.
  • A custom web page gives the user the choice to use the WYSIWYG interface or HTML. MSN limits some HTML code from being used and JavaScript cannot be put onto any page due to security concerns. In the WYSIWYG interface there are tools to add pictures, select background and text colours, create tables, emoticons, fonts, paragraphs, text sizes etc.

Note: MSN Group software is not Mac friendly. Mac users will be able to post in 'plain text' or html, but will not have the benefit of the wysiwyg editor.

  • Each group created comes with a default message board called "General". Other message boards can be created for other topics. Members can participate in the group by adding messages and replying using the same interface as used for creating a custom web page. Alternatively, an e-mail can be sent to the group's e-mail address and the message will appear on the General message board. To reduce spam only e-mails from members can be sent. So, even if a member from a group sends a message he or she will need to use the e-mail address specified in their profile. Some groups discourage members from disclosing their e-mail address due to spoofing. The group may have certain guidelines to tell members not to have their e-mail on display in their profile. There is also a separate e-mail address which can be used to contact administrators only.
  • All groups are expected to comply with MSN's CoC, and have various guidelines for membership of the individual groups. Members who do not comply with group rules may have their membership cancelled or be permanently banned. MSN provides a Contact Form to report abuse.
  • Documents folders are for storage and can be made accessible to members or just administrators but not non-members. In adding a file to a documents folder this contributes to the member's storage limit. A photo album can also be created for storing photos and images for the site. These images can be put on a custom web page and on the message boards. Adding images also contributes to the storage limit. Uploading images and documents requires the ActiveX control to be installed. The storage limit is 3 MB across all groups and can be upgraded to 30 MB if the person upgrades to MSN Hotmail Plus (fee). However, on MSN Spaces an unlimited amount of images can be added without the need of paying. So, images can be hotlinked as they are on the MSN domain.
  • Organizing events for the group can be done by using the Calendar page. This embeds the calendar as used in MSN Hotmail. Depending on the settings members may be able to contribute to it. Special pages can also be created for lists and links. Again, depending on the settings members may or may not be able to add it.
  • If a group is placed in a specific category (such as Xbox or MSN Messenger) then a theme is automatically applied. Instead of the default violet-colored bar at the top it will be a themed bar and message boards will contain different colored buttons. Some themes are restricted to groups created in the United States, although there is a workaround to pass this restriction.

Trivia/Info

  • MSN Groups has previously been known as MSN Homepages and MSN Communities.
  • Image and Document Storage has been reduced to 3 MB from 30 MB (now fee for 30 MB).
  • All "Adult" groups were transferred to a third party web site in 2005. Creating or changing a group to "Adult" is no longer possible. The removal of all "Adult" groups was processed on November 28, 2005 [1].
  • Some groups have icons displayed next to the name. Official groups by MSN have the MSN butterfly, groups considered "cool" have sunglasses (no longer supported), Private groups have a padlock and Mature groups have the smoking pipe. Previously, "Adult" groups had their own icons too.
  • MSN Groups Chat rooms were removed from the CMS on October the 16th 2006, due to MSN Subscription Chat being no longer profitable, as well as security and safety issues for children.
  • MSN Groups has a long history of problems ranging from rampant spammer bots to frozen or inaccessible groups, broken counters, and many other minor but annoying glitches.
  • Some features are only available to Internet Explorer Users.

Notable MSN Groups

  • How Two - A well-known and respected group that had been in existence for several years, which helps members and managers of MSN Groups with their MSN, PSP (paint shop pro) and computer problems, etc.
  • Web Design - Web design support group for MSN Groups users.
  • Grapevine MSN's Official UK Groups home which leads to other Grapevine Groups.
  • Community Feedback A Former MSN owned group now managed by a few of the Member of The Month members for somewhat dubious help with MSN Groups and computer related problems (such as spyware removal, Etc.).
  • Mac Community Feedback The only group which helps Mac owners with their Mac-related MSN Group problems.

Related

External links

MSN Groups

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