[R] draft of posting guide. Sorry.

[Eryk Wolski]

Hi!

Sorry. Please take my last mail to the account that it was monday and I
had two "hard" birthday party's during the weekend. Probably all this
caused the problem to express that the style of the "mailing list guide"
shocked me. I asked this morning such a "stupid"(if you know the answer)
question. But to me, it was a very important question and to get the
answer was it too. I felt scared. I hope that this are not the intention
of that guide. I cooled down now and therefore give me a chance to explain
why that user guide scares me.

As I said, the guide had given me the feeling that someone wants to censor
me. Especially the first section of the Posting Guide: "How to ask good
questions that prompt useful answers" does this. The guide starts with
talking mainly about what you should not, or what you must not do. Some
examples come quite late and after the "you must not cross fences, you
must not..." introduction, I simply stopped to read. To much regulation
kills spontaneity. Lack of spontaneity kills creativity, It cant be!, is
what I thought. Now I had read the reminder of the Posting guide.

What I am missing are a short introduction answering such questions: What
are the intention of this guide? What are the problems it is going to
address?

I think that some hints to people that answer would not harm!
The cases that someone does not get an answer are seldom. Often there are
tens of answers to question. I have the impression that there are a
COMPETITION for the best solution. I think that most of the beginners can
live with a working solution, even if it is not the best one. If I ask a
question than its because I want to get my work done and not to test the
mailing list participants.This may make the workload smaller and may
encourage less experienced R user to try to give answers.
Not to take a questions as an EXAMINATION situation can make it also less
aching or painfull if the question are not as precise as "wished". By
changing this attitude of examiner,student, many of the points
in this guide will be superfluous!

Why the guide does NOT mention in one word that posting questions on the
mailing list has also some DISADVANTAGES? e.g. Answers written in haste,
bad temper (see my answer, sorry again), or answers two days later.  (And
if  you know the right place too look you will get the answer
immediately.)

I even do not think the mailing list should be the last place where you
are allowed to look for help. Simple trying to formulate the question to
post it on the list can be helpfull. Why to make it so difficult to
someone to try it?

I personally find it very good if the same thing is asked ten different
times in 3 different ways. This increases the probability that I will find
a answer to my problem searching the mailing list.
Its also true that many questions can be answered with a short "?command".
But this does not make it superfluous.

At last I like to mention one important source of help which are missing
in the posting guide, and which I forgot these days by myself: R CMD -help
and R --help are also very important help sources! If I had remembered it
yesterday morning I would not have to ask about. But was it really so bad
that I had?

I hope that this email will be helpfull.

Merry Christmass.
Sincerely.

Eryk