[Rd] [External] default for 'signif.stars'

[Marc Schwartz]

Hi Russ,

Thanks for the clarification.

I would not disagree with the suggestion, the key would be for a new user to even know where to look for such an option, if they knew that it existed in the first place.

I would need to review the relevant documentation (e.g. Intro to R) and relevant help files, trying to think like a new useR, as to how easily it would be to first find that option (e.g. using ?options and perhaps ?Startup) to begin to follow the pathway that would lead me to the file for editing.

I almost wonder, if this came up often enough as a question, if it would make sense to add it as a FAQ?

Regards,

Marc


> On May 10, 2026, at 4:54 PM, Lenth, Russell V <russell-lenth using uiowa.edu> wrote:
> 
> Marc,
> 
> Yes, of course; I have that in my .Rprofile too.
> 
> But what I'm suggesting is that the FACTORY FRESH .Rprofile file includes this option so that it is visible to new users, just as the 'papersize' option is already in there. New users are very unlikely to know that option even exists. I want it to be visible when you first install R so that people know they have a choice.
> 
> Russ
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Marc Schwartz <marc_schwartz using me.com>
> Sent: Sunday, May 10, 2026 3:46 PM
> To: Lenth, Russell V <russell-lenth using uiowa.edu>
> Cc: r-devel using r-project.org
> Subject: [External] Re: [Rd] default for 'signif.stars'
> 
> [You don't often get email from marc_schwartz using me.com. Learn why this is important at https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentification ]
> 
> Hi Russ,
> 
> I may be misunderstanding what you are suggesting, but if not, the ability to place:
> 
>  options(show.signif.stars = FALSE)
> 
> in ~/.Rprofile has been around for years. I have been using R since circa 2001 and have had that in my ~/.Rprofile for as long as I can remember.
> 
> I would have to defer to others as to when that may have been added as feature, if not available back then.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Marc Schwartz
> 
>> On May 10, 2026, at 4:23 PM, Lenth, Russell V via R-devel <r-devel using r-project.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Hello,
>> 
>> I'm following up on a thread from 7 years ago (Mar 2019) where there are several arguments -- some of them passionate -- for and against having the 'show.signif.stars' option default to TRUE. You can look back in the archives (https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-devel/) under "default for 'signif.stars'", starting 27 March 2019 to see what was said. You may also want to look at the "Regression stars" thread initiated by Frank Harrell starting 7 Feb 2013.
>> 
>> Clearly, there is a long-standing debate on this issue. I'm writing to suggest a more modest response than changing the default for 'show.signif.stars': Instead, consider making 'show.signif.stars' a configuration option along with 'papersize' and others that some users will want to change. The default .Rprofile script starts with "# Things you might want to change" - and it could be added there. I think this file is initialized with some modal dialogs in a new installation of R, and it would be good to add it there too.
>> 
>> Why do this? Because there are a lot of users out there who strongly object to significance stars, just like there are a lot of people who use letter-sized paper. They are your colleagues, even though you may disagree with them; and it gives them a more visible way of not having those asterisks cluttering their results.
>> 
>> Thanks
>> 
>> Russ Lenth
>> Professor Emeritus
>> University of Iowa, USA