R help - May 2005 - I never made any assumption athat anyone had any obligation to do anything

I just asked a question. If I was too vague, then i am sorry. I dont 
expect anyone to help me, but I thought that it was ok to put the 
question out there in case someone wanted to help me. I didnt expect 
abject hostility for it. Human decency was the only thing I did expect. 
If my question was a pain,badly formatted, or too juvinile, then i have 
no problem being ignored.I asked a question that the archives did not 
satisfactorily answer. I appreciate the help of the poeple on this list 
as they are an invaluable resource, especially since the R documentation 
is sketchy at times. I am sorry for wasting everyones time. I just dont 
like being yelled at first thing in the morning for asking for help on a 
help list. See you all around  ~Erithid

Hello, Erithid:

	  I'm very sorry you feel you got yelled at first thing in the morning. 
  Please try not to take it personally, though I know that may be 
difficult.  After one superficially insulting reply, I just laughed and 
told my manager, "Look what I learned for exposing myself to
ridicule!"

	  My philosophy on this was expressed last December and subsequently 
added to the "fortunes" pacakage, from which I will quote for you now:

 > library(fortunes)
 > fortune("Graves")

Our great-great grandchilren as yet unborn may read some of the stupid 
questions
and/or answers that I and perhaps others give from time to time. I'd 
rather get
flamed for saying something stupid in public on this list than to 
continue to
provide substandard service to the people with whom I work because I 
perpetrated
the same mistake in an environment in which no one questioned so 
effectively my
errors.
    -- Spencer Graves (in a discussion on whether answers on R-help 
should be more
       polite)
       R-help (December 2004)

	  I've heard from some of the best on this listserve that it happens to 
everyone.  That doesn't make it right.  If you can learn to accept this 
as a different subculture operating by different rules of diplomacy, you 
might get more out of this list, do better work with whatever you are 
attempting to do, and enjoy life more.  (My wife's middle name is Rose. 
  When she gives me a hard time about something, I just try to listen 
and console myself with the thought that, "If I want to sleep in a bed 
of roses, I must get used to the thorns.")

	  Best Wishes,
	  spencer graves

BJ wrote:
> I just asked a question. If I was too vague, then i am sorry. I dont 
> expect anyone to help me, but I thought that it was ok to put the 
> question out there in case someone wanted to help me. I didnt expect 
> abject hostility for it. Human decency was the only thing I did expect. 
> If my question was a pain,badly formatted, or too juvinile, then i have 
> no problem being ignored.I asked a question that the archives did not 
> satisfactorily answer. I appreciate the help of the poeple on this list 
> as they are an invaluable resource, especially since the R documentation 
> is sketchy at times. I am sorry for wasting everyones time. I just dont 
> like being yelled at first thing in the morning for asking for help on a 
> help list. See you all around  ~Erithid
> 
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide! 
> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html

To add to Spencer's reply, I have two things.

First, if you look back at your earlier list entries, Uwe asked you
politely at least twice to read the posting guide. The reason for this
is that the posting guide gives guidance to allow you to post questions
that are clear enough to answer, and points you to other sources of
information that you might not already know about. It was only after you
appeared to ignore his advice that he 'yelled' at you.

Second, you ultimately learned several things. As far as I can tell, Uwe
did answer your questions, but more importantly, you learned how to
interact on a list where you get free advice on how to use free software
(the operative term here being *free*). Isn't that better than being
ignored and not learning anything?

Best,

Jim



James W. MacDonald
Affymetrix and cDNA Microarray Core
University of Michigan Cancer Center
1500 E. Medical Center Drive
7410 CCGC
Ann Arbor MI 48109
734-647-5623
>>> Spencer Graves <spencer.graves at pdf.com> 05/27/05 5:34 PM
>>>
Hello, Erithid:

	  I'm very sorry you feel you got yelled at first thing in the
morning. 
  Please try not to take it personally, though I know that may be 
difficult.  After one superficially insulting reply, I just laughed and 
told my manager, "Look what I learned for exposing myself to
ridicule!"

	  My philosophy on this was expressed last December and
subsequently 
added to the "fortunes" pacakage, from which I will quote for you now:

 > library(fortunes)
 > fortune("Graves")

Our great-great grandchilren as yet unborn may read some of the stupid 
questions
and/or answers that I and perhaps others give from time to time. I'd 
rather get
flamed for saying something stupid in public on this list than to 
continue to
provide substandard service to the people with whom I work because I 
perpetrated
the same mistake in an environment in which no one questioned so 
effectively my
errors.
    -- Spencer Graves (in a discussion on whether answers on R-help 
should be more
       polite)
       R-help (December 2004)

	  I've heard from some of the best on this listserve that it
happens to 
everyone.  That doesn't make it right.  If you can learn to accept this 
as a different subculture operating by different rules of diplomacy, you

might get more out of this list, do better work with whatever you are 
attempting to do, and enjoy life more.  (My wife's middle name is Rose. 
  When she gives me a hard time about something, I just try to listen 
and console myself with the thought that, "If I want to sleep in a bed 
of roses, I must get used to the thorns.")

	  Best Wishes,
	  spencer graves

BJ wrote:
> I just asked a question. If I was too vague, then i am sorry. I dont 
> expect anyone to help me, but I thought that it was ok to put the 
> question out there in case someone wanted to help me. I didnt expect 
> abject hostility for it. Human decency was the only thing I did
expect. 
> If my question was a pain,badly formatted, or too juvinile, then i
have 
> no problem being ignored.I asked a question that the archives did not 
> satisfactorily answer. I appreciate the help of the poeple on this
list 
> as they are an invaluable resource, especially since the R
documentation 
> is sketchy at times. I am sorry for wasting everyones time. I just
dont 
> like being yelled at first thing in the morning for asking for help on
a 
> help list. See you all around  ~Erithid
> 
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide! 
> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
______________________________________________
R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
PLEASE do read the posting guide!
http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html



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