Last year we decided to retire this blog and consolidate content on the .NET team blog instead. The thinking at the time was that we weren’t really posting a lot of content to it and that there was so much overlap in content between the VB team blog and the C# FAQ that it would be simpler to just focus on the .NET blog. Since then my experience has been that the Visual Basic community still needs a place of its own to discuss topics uniquely relevant to VB developers so we’re relaunching this blog. The .NET team blog will continue to be the source for the latest information on the .NET platform; which is of course very relevant to Visual Basic developers. But as we dive more into topics like Visual Basic language design, tips and tricks, community projects, and new and existing customer scenarios, it is my hope that this blog will serve as nexus for fellow Visual Basic enthusiasts. A few changes In the past, we’ve always erred on the side of free expression on this blog without a requirement to register to comment and with minimal comment moderation. However, while most visitors participate in discussion in good faith there have always been a few bad actors—many of whom aren’t even VB users—who take advantage of this freedom (and anonymity) to abuse, harass, and bully product team and community members or otherwise derail productive conversation. As the program manager for Visual Basic I feel an obligation to speak up when such a bad actor makes a false or inflammatory statement or abuses a community member to send the message to VB developers that this is a safe space and that I have their back. This is time consuming and distracting from the actual purpose of the blog. Therefore, effective with this relaunching I’m instituting a stricter moderation policy than we’ve used in the past. All comments will be need to be approved before they appear on the blog and false, abusive, or grossly off-topic comments will simply no longer appear (“until my watch is ended”). This is being done to ensure the most productive discussion between the product team and the community. I will be re-evaluating this policy on an on-going basis and will inform you of any changes as they happen. I want to state unequivocally: This is a blog for Visual Basic enthusiasts (including me). Bashing of any version of the Visual Basic product family or their users will no longer be given a platform here. Anyone not wishing to learn about, discuss, or contribute positively to the present and future of Visual Basic should find their soapbox elsewhere.  

VB fans, welcome and welcome back! I look forward to future conversations.

  Warmest regards, Anthony D. Green Program Manager Visual Basic