[R] draft of posting guide

[Pascal.Niklaus@unibas.ch]

Having followed the discussion about this posting guide, I'd like to add a few 
comments. While I think that the *content* is fully appropriate, I am not sure 
whether the *form* is the appropriate, for the following reason: 
 
- The folks posting "questions" like "I've installed R two minutes ago, what 
do I do next?" obviously do not even try to read *any* documentation, and they 
obviously will also ignore the posting guide. So the posting guide will not 
fix that problem. 
 
- People tending not to dare to ask questions because they are intimidated by 
some aspects of the list (and after the r-beginner discussion we now know that 
some feel like that) would be helped by a more positive wording of the same 
issues in posting guide. The motto should be "help to write better questions" 
rather than "stop asking poor questions". The content is all there in the 
draft, it is more about changing individual words. Re-posting it monthly on 
the list is a good idea. 
 
- It would probably also help to add a search form for the mailing list 
archives to the "Documentation -> Help Pages" section of R-help. I know it is 
on r-project.org, but you need *less* mouse clicks to subscribe than to get to 
the search form! Also, it is at the very bottom of the respective web page. 
 
- Wasn't there an article on how to get help in a recent issue of R-news? 
Maybe it could be placed at a prominent placed in the "Help Pages" as well. 
 
Pascal 
 
 
 

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