14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has recently announced the decision to close the Bing Webmaster forums at the end of May or in early June, with all users now recommended to head to a different community in order to get advice from experts or find solutions for the issues they are experiencing.
The company hasn't provided too many details regarding the reason behind this decision, but it did hint that the dropping interest in this service was actually the main factor that convinces Microsoft's bosses to shut down the Bing Webmaster forums.
“Over the last few years, we’ve had our Webmaster forums up and running. They’ve been around a while now in a few iterations, and like any community, the goal is to grow it to be vibrant and engaging,” the company said in an announcement this morning.
“To foster the deep involvement of experts who help others, creating a community that contributes to improvements and makes its own gravity. There comes a time, however, when you sometimes need to re-evaluate, and once in a while, regroup.”
Microsoft says that there are plenty of similar communities out there, where you could find an answer to your questions and many company employees are very active at WebmasterWorld, so this might be the best place to go if you'd like to stay in touch with other webmasters.
“Thus as of the end of May (or early June), we’re taking down our Bing Webmaster Community Forum, allowing us time and resources to focus energies in other directions,” the company continued.
As you probably know if you're the kind of user who keeps an eye on Microsoft news, this isn't the first service that gets the ax in the last year.
Microsoft decided to pull the plug on Windows Live Messenger in early 2013 in an attempt to merge its messaging networks and bring more users to Skype. All accounts have been automatically transferred to Skype as part of a process that didn't run very smoothly.
Many users complained that they lost their contacts after being moved to Skype and despite a few fixes, nothing could be done. Of course, the company was heavily criticized for this decision, but all users eventually moved to Skype, which is now playing a much more important role in Microsoft's long-term strategy.
Later the same year, Microsoft also announced that the MSN TV service was shutting down as well, again without disclosing too many details about the reasons.