After a question on R, Prof Brian Ripley writes: > However, you did not give your affiliation and I do not like giving free > consultancy to undisclosed commercial organizations. Please in future use > a proper signature block so that helpers are aware of your provenance.
I have one question and one comment. Question: Are there specific standards about this for R mailing lists? I could not find any. I don't think that there should be because, in the context of a mailing list question (as opposed to a personal e-mail), the person's "affiliation" does not strike me as relevant (although Professor Ripley is free to use whatever criteria he likes for deciding which questions he answers). Comment: Does it make much sense to harp on a "commercial" versus non-commercial motivation in the context of an R mailing list? I think it makes no sense. I (like many other R users) have both commercial and university affiliations. Are mailing list participants more willing to answer my questions if I sign them: -- David Kane CEO Kane Capital Management versus -- David Kane Institute Fellow at IQSS Harvard University Moreover, just because I sign a message with a university signature does not mean that I am using the information for academic research just as a commercial signature does not imply the opposite. My colleagues and I have asked many questions --- and thanks for all the great answers! --- relating to out portfolio package, now open-sourced. This is also true of "full-time" academics, many of whom do extensive consulting. Just because an academic asks a question does not mean that the answer won't be used solely for an "undisclosed commercial organizations," or should such questions be openly labelled as such? Perhaps I am missing something. But the current-standard-as-I-understand-it (use whatever signature you like) seems perfectly fine. If R-core wants a different standard, I would, of course, comply. Dave -- Dave Kane Whatever-Affiliation-You-Want-Here ______________________________________________ R-devel@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
