Are Tech Support Sites like Asp.net and MSDN Forums Sticky?
I hear from some folks inside Microsoft that sites like the MSDN forums aren't "sticky", that people don't keep coming back to form a "community", and that they are purely transactional in nature. I don't buy these statements one bit. Here is someone else for whom the MSDN forums have become sticky for.
https://spaces.msn.com/drsql/Blog/cns!80677FB08B3162E4!892.entry
Have you seen the MSDN Forums yet? They are located at:
https://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN and are pretty good. They are sort of a sister to the NNTP newsgroups at msnews.microsoft.com, and I have been spending most of my online time on them, specifically in the Transact SQL group: https://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=85&SiteID=1 .
As to which is better, NNTP (classic usenet style newsgroups) or the Forums, I won't get into that religious debate here (I do get into it in other places, mind you, just not here) but after giving them a try there is one thing I have started to like about the forums. Portability. I can check messages at home, at the office, and even on my PDA phone when I am supposed to be paying attention to something else (like the other people at a lunch table, for example.)
For this reason I have put the Forums at the top of my current list of places to visit and answer questions and I hope to see a few of you drop by too.
What do you think? Are tech support "communties" really sticky or not? Do you go to sites like this for 10-15 minutes a day to browse even if you don't need to? If so, why?