[R] A suggestion regarding multiple replies

[(Ted Harding)]

On 14-Nov-03 partha_bagchi at hgsi.com wrote:
> Please don't take this the wrong way. There are a lot of extremely
> helpful people who subscribe to r-help. 
> 
> I was wondering if it is time to adopt a strategy a-la Splus help
> whereby people reply to the author and the author summarizes all the
> replies?
> 
> Just a thought and have a good weekend.
> Partha

This has its merits, in reducing the load on the list and its readers.

However, personally I like the way questions are bounced around between
people. and answers are devoped "conversationally", as it were, and I
think a lot would be lost if this were not to happen. On the whole,
I welcome the load!

R strikes me as somewhat special amongst languages in that there are
a lot of hidden subtleties, which sometimes are only pointed out by
the few people who are really familiar with them. At present this
happens on-list and usually very promptly, and this timely intervention
puts wrong ideas right before they get too deeply embedded; this
benefit would tend to vanish if a "summarise to the list" policy
were adopted.

Of course there are some cases where a simple answer can be sent directly
to a person asking a simple question, but my experience is that I have
learned a lot about R by watching these dynamic discussions. I hope they
will continue!

Best wishes to all,
Ted.


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Date: 15-Nov-03                                       Time: 00:30:42
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