@ Edozac, I appreciate your input and feedback regarding the vertical advertisement. Although we're unable to take action on your comment immediately, I assure you that the product team is aware of your comments and reviewing them for future changes to Hotmail.

@edozac,

If you have already installed an ad-blocker into your broswer, check this thread ... you may be able to install a script that will completely eliminate the ads on the right (and expand the inbox to reuse the space vacated by the ad).

http://windowslivehelp.com/community/t/44808.aspx

Joseph D

Rosalie R

Shiela F

Jordan C

and  Alvin F

Starring in the blockbuster failure of the year......

THE STEPFORD MODS.

Rated "P" for Pathetic.

David,

We appreciate all your comments about the vertical advertisement but I DO NOT recommend coming onto our boards with the intention of insulting us. This is not constructive feedback and will get you banned.

You're welcome to disagree with the design; especially the vertical advertisement and we know that not everyone was pleased with the change. This is the main reason why this forum was created. So that you can voice out your opinion, comments and feedback and be heard by the product team.

Windows Live Joseph D:

David,

We appreciate all your comments about the vertical advertisement but I DO NOT recommend coming onto our boards with the intention of insulting us. This is not constructive feedback and will get you banned.

You're welcome to disagree with the design; especially the vertical advertisement and we know that not everyone was pleased with the change. This is the main reason why this forum was created. So that you can voice out your opinion, comments and feedback and be heard by the product team.

@Joseph D, and the rest of the mods.

You tell me you are going to ban me for coming onto the boards with the intention of insulting you mods.  Yet for the past 5 months all of you mods have done absolutely nothing but insult everyone of us with form letter replies that have nothing to do with our problems. 

You have insulted every one of our intelligences with requests, and answers that are obvious lies. 

You have insulted us constantly with lies telling us that our feedback has been sent to your product development team, when we know that our feedback goes to a dead end in your computer in a foreign country. 

You insult every one of us by doing absolutely nothing to resolve our problems.

You insult us all by using fake names, pretending to be Americans in our country.

You insult us by telling us we need to do useless things like send you screen shots or you need to access our accounts to troubleshoot the problem. 

Each one of us are insulted by your lack of knowledge because we all know very well that a screen shot is a waste of time and solves nothing.

You insult us when you request that we give you permission to access our account to try and re-create the problem, when we all know very well that doing so proves or gains nothing.

You insult us when you say that you have tried to re-create our problem on the same server that our account is on, when we know fully well that you did not do any such thing from your computer in a different country from the servers that handle our accounts. What you claimed to have done is simply impossible for you to do.

You mods treat each and every one of us like we are stupid little morons. You think we won't know any better and will just do what ever you say without questioning it because we have 100 times the knowledge of computers than you people do.

You just insulted us now by saying that our insults are not constructive feedback, when constructive feedback is all that we have been giving to you all along. Many of us have on numerous occasions, have explained clearly what needs to be done to resolve our issues, but do you take our suggestions to the people who do the fixes?  NO. You just respond to us with your typical form letter responses that every single person on every single thread in this entire forum has gotten so many times. Trying to provide you with constructive feedback is futile, because you just ignore it. You really don't want our feedback.  You just want us to go away and stop complaining.

Have you ever seen the movie, "THE STEPFORD WIVES"?  It's about a town were all of the women are controlled by microchips in their heads.  They walk, talk, and respond with typical programmed responses.  That is how you mods respond to all of us every time on every issue.  You never talk to us like human beings.  We feel as if we are talking to an automated response computer that can't think for itself.  That is why I used it as a metaphor to describe you mods.  Actually it was not an insult.  Just the truth.

I have been insulting you people for a long time now with the intention of actually getting just one of you to respond just once like a human with a brain.  After all of this time, I finally got one from you. But was your response one that actually addresses our issues with a real answer?  Was your response one that recognizes that we are all frustrated to hell with you people.  NO! Of course not.  Instead you respond that you don't like being insulted and if I don't stop, you are going to ban me from these forums.  Do you consider that some kind of threat that I should be worried about?  You have done nothing to help any of us in any way at all.  So how would being banned from this forum hurt us or change anything?

This forum is supposed to help your customers to resolve problems.  This forum is a place to express our concerns to someone who will actually listen and do something to fix our problems.  You have done none of these things.  Over 80% of our problems could have been fixed in a week.  That was several months ago, and we are still here putting up with you mods giving us stupid instructions that will prove or solve nothing.

The fact that you don't like being insulted tells me that at least you are flesh and blood people.  Now if you could just see that in us and do something to help us, there would be no reason for insults.  We would thank you and move on.  You can ban me or all of us, and the end result would be the same. NOTHING BEING DONE TO HELP US!  But don't you dare tell me that you don't like me insulting you, when that is all you mods have been doing to us constantly. And we have been very patient with you. 

But it is all for nothing. I have $1,000 that says you will respond to this post with another typical robotic response, and that you will have learned nothing from it.  Tomorrow you will continue to tell people the same old worn out BS that we all know is BS. You will continue to insult us as you always do.  You will continue to ignore our feedback and suggestion to fix issues.  You will continue to say utterly stupid things like,..... "The add is a current default of ......and it can not be easily removed...., ...these tasks we ask of you are a necessary part of the troubleshooting process....we thank you for your feedback as it is important to us to improve our service....we need to access your account to.....blah blah blah blah blah......"   If you people put as much effort into fixing the problems, as you do in coming up with BS excuses, Hotmail would be the best email service in the universe.

You wanna ban me for telling the truth that everyone else knows is the truth, then be my guest.  Ban me for bruising your egos.  I don't give a crap anymore.  This forum is a waste of bits and bytes.

What's the matter?  Does the truth hurt too much to give one of those famous form-letter robot replies?  Or are you just going to ignore us as usual?

David,

There’s nothing more we can do about this issue but to always forward your comments to the product development team. We moderators leave issues like yours to the product development team since only they can make changes to the product.

Important note: There’s no need for unnecessary comments and statements here in WLSC since they won’t help resolve the issue. This is a technical support forum and we appreciate constructive criticisms.

Windows Live Raniel L:

David,

There’s nothing more we can do about this issue but to always forward your comments to the product development team. We moderators leave issues like yours to the product development team since only they can make changes to the product.

Important note: There’s no need for unnecessary comments and statements here in WLSC since they won’t help resolve the issue. This is a technical support forum and we appreciate constructive criticisms.

And therein lies the whole problem.  All you people do is forward our feedback to another department.  And that would be fine, except the other department does nothing. We don't even know if they are understanding what we say in simple emails that are just passed on to them.  But instead, we are stuck talking to people who can't do anything.  What's the point? It doesn't work!  You may be the middle-man for MS, but to us, you are a dead end.

We (the customers) need to be able to talk directly to the other department.  The ones who would understand our input. The technical language.  They would have the knowledge in their head without having to use a PDF file that give us responses but do not help us.  And they would be able to give detailed answers.  Maybe even fix something faster that 5 months. A direct dialog with them would be the smarter way to handle the customers issues.

So as long as we only have you to deal with,  nothing will ever happen.  You people really serve no purpose at all.  There are no results for your work.  So again I ask, what's the point?  What is the point in trying to vent our problems in this useless forum?  It is safe to say that if nothing has been done for us for the last 5 months, it probably won't happen in the next 5 months either.  That makes this forum a complete total 100% waste of our time, and MS's money to employ you.

wow, this is a hot thread.

David, have you browsed through this site? Maybe you could do that and see all the other issues, where in the mods have remedied their customers' issues like lost messages that are being recovered, receiving issues that are being fixed (with the help of their (what do you call them i forget. i was just browsing through the mail delivery forum...escalations senders team?), lost contacts that are being retrieved...these are concerns that are being fixed by the same mods that you're pretty much calling as useless.

Anyway, boo-hoo. This has been a pretty useful site to me and my classmates here in SFSU. keep it up mods!

@superstar

The mods in these forums are very limited in the types of problems they can resolve (which is not necessarily their fault .... I suspect that the terms of the contract between Microsoft and the outsourced support company that runs these forums limits the ways in which the mods can respond).

The mods here can answer simple "how to" questions regarding Hotmail (similar to your question : "how many addresses can i save in my contact list?"). Although, it will be interesting to see how long it takes for you to get a complete answer to what is a very straight-forward question.

However, many many customers have more complex questions, and requests for changes to the way Hotmail is designed such as: making the Quick Add pane optional, making the location of the ads selectable (top, bottom, right, left). These changes are not complex to make, but the mods have no control over their implementation. All the mods can do is relay complex questions and requests for changes to the elusive "product team".

Since December 2008, customers have been requesting simple changes to Hotmail that would make the product more user friendly. For over 4 months, the mods have been relaying these requests to the elusive "product team". In those 4 months, there has been no response from the product team. NONE, ZERO, NADA. In those 4 months, no member of the product team has posted in these forums, identified themselves as a member of the "product team", and discussed the various customer requests (stating that they have, or have not, been accepted for inclusion into the next Hotmail release).

In fact, since December 2008, there have been no upgrades or releases to Hotmail ... (contrast that to Windows 7: between January and May, Windows 7 has gone from Beta to Release Candidate) .... so there has been plenty of time since last December 2008 for the Hotmail Product team to address the many customer suggestions for improvement, and come out with a new release. Yet, since December 2008, we have not heard anything from the elusive Hotmail "product team". Given that Microsoft has incurred two rounds of layoffs this year (January and May), my guess is that there is no one left assigned to the Hotmail "product team".

All of this is not the fault of the mods in these forums. However, when the mods respond to a customer's request with:  "we will forward your request to the product team", that gives the customers false hope (that there really is a product team, and that the product team is working on an imminent release of Hotmail). I believe that neither is true. I believe it would be more honest if Microsoft allowed the mods to speak the truth and respond that there will be no significant changes to Hotmail in the future (until the economy turns around and people can be re-hired for the Hotmail product team).

It is the frustration of being given false hope that eventually results in customers like Dave to respond the way he did. I sincerely hope that you and your classmates in SFSU continue to get good support from these forums .... but if you browse the various threads, and read the customer posts (of complex questions, requests for changes, or complaints about Hotmail servers being down for DAYS due to maintenance) you may get a sense of the frustrations that affected Dave (and many others).

@i am a superstar

Those issues you mention are minor.  Now if maybe YOU could read through the forums, you will find those that still can't open their accounts after several months.  Many of them have given up trying, and have switched to another email service to avoid this stupidity.

Many of us have been arguing with Windows Live about the ad they put on the right side of the screen.  That add has forced people to see their email pane in a much narrower area.  They have to scroll left to right to read every email now.  It has flashing animated ads that are distracting.  There are about 7 different threads with many customers complaining about this problem. In more than 5 months, all we customers have gotten from them are robotic form-letter responses, and instructions that most of us know will NOT find or solve anything.  Many of us are big into computers and programming.  We know how a system like Windows Live operates, and we have continuously provided them with feedback and solutions to fix our problems.

Our feedback has been constantly ignored but would have solved our issues several months ago. The mods are sitting in another country far away from the servers that make up the Windows Live service. They use fake American names to make us think they are here in this country.  They read your complaint and take a keyword and enter it into a search.  The search results in a PDF file that they can read to provide you with answers.  But they are just generic answers and usually do not help us.  Asking them a specific question always gets a generic form-letter response. Usually just "copy & pasted" from the PDF file. I am sure that helped you and your little problem. But it doesn't help people with real problems.

The add on our screens that are annoying and blocking email panes need to go or be moved.  We all know this and so do they.  But we are free customers, and the ad pays money.  That means what we want has no meaning to them.  They don't care that the ad is a major inconvenience to us, as long as the advertiser pays them to keep it there.  They keep telling us that the ad is a default of Windows Live Hotmail, and can not be removed.  But just start paying Windows Live for your same email page, and watch that ad go away in a few seconds. 

It's all about the money first, and the customers come last.  Many of us have had to resort to downloading another browser, or just moving to another email provider to solve the problem, because the ad money means more to them.

If you notice the green check mark at the top of this page. it indicates that the problem is solved.  And look at many of the mod's post that are marked as a "Confirmed Answer".  As far as they are concerned this issue is taken care of.  But all of us know that it hasn't been fixed at all.  In fact, nothing has changed in any way.  Tell all of the others in this and the several related threads that still can't open their email, and those who have an ad to the right that makes their email reading area about 3 inches wide that have to scroll back and forth constantly to read them, to just Boo Hoo.

If you have a hangnail, they can search for a PDF file that tells them to tell you to get a pair of nail clippers and cut it off.  But they don't know how to handle a tough issue like ours. There is NO PDF file for this one, so our complaints go to a dead end in a computer half way around the world, and nothing gets solved.  Even some of the mods are telling their own customers to get another browser or email client to fix it rather than just moving or removing that stupid ad.  What kind of customer service tells you to go to a competitor for help? That's just plain asinine.

I am not calling the Mods "Useless".  I am calling their jobs and positions "USELESS".  They are just doing the simple tasks that they were hired to do. Because most people who could do better would be here in America and demand more money.  The Mods were hired as apeasers.  And that is exactly what they do. And they are in a country half way around the world because it is sooooo much cheaper for greedy multi-billion dollar Microsoft.  End result?  NOTHING!

Here is some good reading for you to discuss with your classmates.  Besides this one, go read the following threads, and show me one resolved problem.

Annoying ads......I need to talk to a human.......Getting rid of advertisements on my hotmail page.......Removal of "Quick Add" box.......The right side add banner takes up subject line space......Ad on right side of page, I don't like it.......How can I get rid of the advertising on my inbox screen......Advertisements on email page......Can we stop these ads of teeth whitening scam......   Then read the threads about not being able to open emails.  There are just as many of them too, without help. You can't BOO HOO us just because our brave mods fixed your simple hangnail. This not personal to you.  This is 5 months of frustration from constant runarounds talking.

add another annoyed customer to the list concerning this subject.

a customer that gets annoyed every single time has to see such message and have to click on the solution for every single email.

i didn't notice this problem before, not too long ago, as i was using a puter that had a wide-screen monitor. now that that puter is totally crashed (in short order, mind you, just a couple months after the one year warrenty ran out.), do i see this "message is too wide...", cuz the puter (an old free laptop with problems) i now have to use doesn't have a wide-screen monitor.  (personally, i think any machine (and not just puters.  i say any machine, cuz i mean, *any machine*), is somehow programed to totally crash very soon after the warrenty runs out)).

i think this "message too wide..." problem only occurs with screens that are not wide-screen.  anyone else think so?

@MelPhleg

If you are comfortable installing an add-on tool into your browser, then you can completely remove all ads from Hotmail.

See these threads:

http://windowslivehelp.com/community/p/55123/251046.aspx#251046

http://windowslivehelp.com/community/t/44808.aspx

@ MelPhleg

You may want to read the message posted by MSFT Roopa S about the ads you see in Hotmail. Visit:

        http://windowslivehelp.com/community/t/57612.aspx

@ MelPhleg

Do not do what Celeste G tells you.  It is another run-around that Windows Live will send you on that will take you to the same people here that do nothing to fix your problem.

Do what Langware told you to do.  His suggestions will eliminate the ads completely. Those links will have many options that you can do to eliminate the stupid ads.  The people here at windows live will run you in circles for months with no results.