On 1 Dec 2004, at 19:46, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
I have been a member for only a few days but I find the tone of someYou may have not been long enough on this list to see that some of the old-time gurus have reached a demigod like status. Demigods have all rights to be `rude' (that's almost a definition of a demi-deity). That said, I do know your sentiments: I'd be afraid to post a question to this list. I also remember that I was shocked that the first message I sent here got answers from people like V&R (both) and many others, and these were friendly and useful answers (although I could have found the answer to my question with careful reading of documents -- it was about specifying offset in glm).
responses are inappropriate for a list dubbing itself a "help list". I also
completely understand that traffic needs to be kept at a modest level to
keep advanced users interested; therefore, I suggest that a second help list
be created to deal with "advanced R help". Belong to both lists if you wish
and filter your email for cursory glances or a detailed reading. Users must
judge themselves the level of their queries and perhaps a note saying
something like "requests to the advanced list are generally made by users
who already have a very good working knowledge of R" or some very rough
benchmark for judging your level like 2 years.
I do not know how much work this would involve or resources available for
this - it is a blind proposal. I think it might deal with many of the
problems both beginner and advanced users have with the present list.
This is a subscribed mailing list. As such, this is a restrictive list with more stringent rules than open newsgroups. Well, newsgroups can be really harsh places, too. I don't think that it would be wise to establish a parallel novice mailing list. That would add only one extra irritation: cross-posting to several lists. However, I do think that novice questions could be be better served in a newsgroup (Usenet) than in a closed mailing list. There have been several suggestions of transforming this mailing list into a newsgroup, but these suggestions have been rejected, and rightly. However, if you want to have novice group with slacker netiquette, you could try to establish a parallel and alternative newsgroup with different emphasis than this mailing list. I am sure that many of the greatest gurus wouldn't follow you into this newsgroup, but they would keep to this mailing list. If you want to have answers to 'basic', 'silly' or 'simple' questions, you don't need them either.
Suggesting a Usenet newsgroup a generation thing. I think some of the younger users would prefer a Wiki or a Forum (these are words I've seen, but I wouldn't visit places like this, talking about my g-g-generation).
cheers, jari oksanen -- Jari Oksanen, Oulu, Finland
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