Please don't take this the wrong way. There are a lot of extremely helpful people who subscribe to r-help. I was wondering if it is time to adopt a strategy a-la Splus help whereby people reply to the author and the author summarizes all the replies? Just a thought and have a good weekend. Partha
On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 partha_bagchi at hgsi.com wrote:> I was wondering if it is time to adopt a strategy a-la Splus help whereby > people reply to the author and the author summarizes all the replies?That might be a bit extreme, but it would be nice if people didn't reply to the list (only to the authors) for very basic questions. Most of us already know how to e.g. find the position of the largest element in a vector. Doug
On 14-Nov-03 partha_bagchi at hgsi.com wrote:> Please don't take this the wrong way. There are a lot of extremely > helpful people who subscribe to r-help. > > I was wondering if it is time to adopt a strategy a-la Splus help > whereby people reply to the author and the author summarizes all the > replies? > > Just a thought and have a good weekend. > ParthaThis has its merits, in reducing the load on the list and its readers. However, personally I like the way questions are bounced around between people. and answers are devoped "conversationally", as it were, and I think a lot would be lost if this were not to happen. On the whole, I welcome the load! R strikes me as somewhat special amongst languages in that there are a lot of hidden subtleties, which sometimes are only pointed out by the few people who are really familiar with them. At present this happens on-list and usually very promptly, and this timely intervention puts wrong ideas right before they get too deeply embedded; this benefit would tend to vanish if a "summarise to the list" policy were adopted. Of course there are some cases where a simple answer can be sent directly to a person asking a simple question, but my experience is that I have learned a lot about R by watching these dynamic discussions. I hope they will continue! Best wishes to all, Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding at nessie.mcc.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 167 1972 Date: 15-Nov-03 Time: 00:30:42 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------
I like the current method. It allows discussion to flourish, and prevents (to some extent) the phenonmenon of a single question generating 50 nearly identical replies (usually when it's a syntax question which many people know the answer to). Peter Peter L. Flom, PhD Assistant Director, Statistics and Data Analysis Core Center for Drug Use and HIV Research National Development and Research Institutes 71 W. 23rd St www.peterflom.com New York, NY 10010 (212) 845-4485 (voice) (917) 438-0894 (fax)>>> <partha_bagchi at hgsi.com> 11/14/03 5:02 PM >>>Please don't take this the wrong way. There are a lot of extremely helpful people who subscribe to r-help. I was wondering if it is time to adopt a strategy a-la Splus help whereby people reply to the author and the author summarizes all the replies? Just a thought and have a good weekend. Partha ______________________________________________ R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list https://www.stat.math.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
I like the list the way it is and am grateful for all the email I get everyday. If an alternative is required, perhaps forums (e.g. http://forums.devshed.com/) could be considered but then everyone has to make an effort to visit the websites instead of getting the questions delivered in their mailbox. -- Adaikalavan Ramasamy -----Original Message----- From: r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch [mailto:r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch] On Behalf Of Ted.Harding at nessie.mcc.ac.uk Sent: Saturday, November 15, 2003 8:31 AM To: partha_bagchi at hgsi.com Cc: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch Subject: RE: [R] A suggestion regarding multiple replies On 14-Nov-03 partha_bagchi at hgsi.com wrote:> Please don't take this the wrong way. There are a lot of extremely > helpful people who subscribe to r-help. > > I was wondering if it is time to adopt a strategy a-la Splus help > whereby people reply to the author and the author summarizes all the > replies? > > Just a thought and have a good weekend. > ParthaThis has its merits, in reducing the load on the list and its readers. However, personally I like the way questions are bounced around between people. and answers are devoped "conversationally", as it were, and I think a lot would be lost if this were not to happen. On the whole, I welcome the load! R strikes me as somewhat special amongst languages in that there are a lot of hidden subtleties, which sometimes are only pointed out by the few people who are really familiar with them. At present this happens on-list and usually very promptly, and this timely intervention puts wrong ideas right before they get too deeply embedded; this benefit would tend to vanish if a "summarise to the list" policy were adopted. Of course there are some cases where a simple answer can be sent directly to a person asking a simple question, but my experience is that I have learned a lot about R by watching these dynamic discussions. I hope they will continue! Best wishes to all, Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding at nessie.mcc.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 167 1972 Date: 15-Nov-03 Time: 00:30:42 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------ ______________________________________________ R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list https://www.stat.math.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
As with most of the replies so far, I enjoy the way the list works.
A couple of observations however are that it is evident that off list
replies already happen and imho more importantly is the fact that
initially quite straightforward queries can turn into something much
more interesting. I find this type of query to be among the most
helpful. Partly because they tend to deal with issues that I think I
have already got covered. An example of this was the use of asp=1 in a
plot to keep the aspect ratio correct. One might argue that having to go
to plot.default to find this reference rather than in plot was the
problem, but what it did to me was to ensure that I follow through
deeper and deeper into the workings of R. There are times when it is
only after you have found the answer that you realise why the answer had
to be where it was (as with plot.default) and that's when the real
learning begins.
I use the list as a way of exploring different aspects of R (often those
that I have no direct need of at the time.)
________________________________________________
Tom Mulholland
Senior Policy Officer
WA Country Health Service
Tel: (08) 9222 4062
-----Original Message-----
From: partha_bagchi at hgsi.com [mailto:partha_bagchi at hgsi.com]
Sent: Saturday, 15 November 2003 6:02 AM
To: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch
Subject: [R] A suggestion regarding multiple replies
Please don't take this the wrong way. There are a lot of extremely
helpful
people who subscribe to r-help.
I was wondering if it is time to adopt a strategy a-la Splus help
whereby
people reply to the author and the author summarizes all the replies?
Just a thought and have a good weekend.
Partha
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