Glen Barnett wrote: > > Jerry Dallal wrote: > > > > Paul Thompson wrote: > > > > > The rule about > > > not answering homework problems still applies however. Ask your > > > > Rule? What rule? > > It's not a rule. But consider it a request. > > As someone who has set students stats problems, I'm all for > people giving some guidance here, if they are willing. But > just answering the problem without input from the student > totally defeats the point of giving the problems in the > first place, which is that the student will learn by doing, > even though that may involve some actual struggle (like, say > cracking a book, and learning a little of the material, > God forbid). > > Glen
Well, these are the issues, aren't they? Personally, my attitude is that those who wish to ignore such posts should do so. Those who wish to respond might do so, too, to whatever extent they feel is appropriate, and it would be helpful to keep in mind the points you raise. The complication raised by this latter course is that it might encourage the posting of additional problems with the potential of overwhelming the ng. Often, issues such as these are handled through a group's charter, which spells out what it appropriate for the forum. The problem with the sci.stat hierarchy is that it was not formed out of whole cloth but was a renaming of the old bit.listserv groups back in 1993. I have been unsuccessful in locating Charters for any of the sci.stat groups. I'm not up on the history of the old listservers, but my guess is that not many undergraduate students had access to them, so the posting of homework problems was never addressed. I would appreciate comments from those with better information. Short of a charter spelling out what is and is not acceptable, it is important to be cautious about claiming the existence of "rules" against answering homework questions. I don't often answer homework questions myself, but every so often I find myself inclined to offer hints. If there were a rule in a charter against it, I would refrain from doing so. Barring such a rule, but the final decision for better or worse should be that of the respondent. . . ================================================================= Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at: . http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ . =================================================================
