[R] Connecting R-help and Google Groups?

Thu Mar 15 10:59:23 CET 2007

On Wed, Mar 14, 2007 at 06:30:53PM -0500, Ranjan Maitra wrote:
> I agree with Bert on this one! Any commercial entity's future policies will not be decided by some group's past understanding. Everything can be explained in terms of shareholder value.
> 

Personally, i would go even further. I think it is very dangeorous to
allow google and other search engines to search the R web pages and 
mailing lists, who knows what they'll do with this information some day,
or maybe they're already doing it right now!
All search engines should be banned from these sites IMHO. 

Personally i wouldn't even allow to download these pages with
Internet Explorer, Safari, Netscape, Firefox or any commercial 
web browser.

Also, the R team shouldn't support R on any commercial platforms like
MS Windows, OSX, Redhat & Debian Linux, etc. There is a considerable 
chance that the policies of these companies will affect the R community 
negatively.

> I don't see any advantages with tying up to Google groups. We get enough posts every day here to keep us all busy with even a fraction of them. I also think people should be encouraged to follow the policies such as read the basics "An Intro" etc, before running off and posting. Besides, and most importantly, I prefer having statisticians or those interested in statistics applied to their problems discuss their issues and software, and I learn a lot in this mailing list even in lurk mode. I could do without random posters. 

I completely agree. The R user community is big enough right now, and 
it is clear that we want no more newbie's with annoying questions.
Nor want we more statistics professors, it is our right and duty to 
answer all the questions about R!

> Btw, anyone using R should be encouraged to use RSiteSearch to search this mailing list on some topic.

Yes. I don't even understand why it is possible to search the mailing list
via a web form. It would be a great user filter to stop this service!
Only advanced users who are able to install R and find RSiteSearch 
should be allowed to see the posts. As for posting i recommend to set up
a test with questions about statistics, programming and other relevant
topics and only users passing the test would be allowed to submit posts
to the lists. It would be also wise to make them repeat the test 
every year, just in case they forget something.

Best,
Gabor

> Best,
> Ranjan
> 
> 
> 
> On Wed, 14 Mar 2007 13:36:33 -0400 "Paul Lynch" <plynchnlm at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > Well, I don't see what danger could arise from the fact that Google
> > Groups is owned by a company.  Google Groups provides access to all of
> > usenet, plus many mailing lists (e.g. the ruby-talk mailing list for
> > Ruby programmers).  They don't control any of the newgroups or mailing
> > lists that they provide access to.  It is a free service, supported by
> > advertising.
> > 
> > As for the issue of whether there might be future access problems
> > (e.g. if Google goes bankrupt, which currently seems unlikely)  R
> > users would still have access to the r-help list through the means
> > that they have now.  I am not recommending replacing any of the
> > current means of access to the r-help list; I am just asking about
> > adding an additional means of access.
> > 
> >       --Paul
> > 
> > On 3/14/07, Bert Gunter <gunter.berton at gene.com> wrote:
> > > I know nothing about Google Groups, but FWIW, I think it would be most
> > > unwise for R/CRAN to hook up to **any** commercially sponsored web portals.
> > > Future changes in their policies, interfaces,or access conditions may make
> > > them inaccessible or unfreindly to R users. So long as we have folks willing
> > > and able to host and maintain our lists as part of the CRAN infrastructure,
> > > CRAN maintains control. I think this is wise and prudent.
> > >
> > > I am happy to be educated to the contrary if I misunderstand how this would
> > > work.
> > >
> > > Bert Gunter
> > > Genentech Nonclinical Statistics
> > > South San Francisco, CA 94404
> > > 650-467-7374
> > >
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch
> > > [mailto:r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch] On Behalf Of Paul Lynch
> > > Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2007 8:48 AM
> > > To: R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch
> > > Subject: [R] Connecting R-help and Google Groups?
> > >
> > > This morning I tried to see if I could find the r-help mailing list on
> > > Google Groups, which has an interface that I like.  I found three
> > > Google Groups ("The R Project for Statistical Computing", "rproject",
> > > and "rhelp") but none of them are connected to the r-help list.
> > >
> > > Is there perhaps some reason why it wouldn't be a good thing for there
> > > to be a connected Google Group?  I think it should be possible to set
> > > things up so that a post to the Google Group goes to the r-help
> > > mailing list, and vice-versa.
> > >
> > > Also, does anyone know why the three existing R Google Groups failed
> > > to get connected to r-help?  It might require some action on the part
> > > of the r-help list administrator.
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > >     --Paul
> > >
> > > --
> > > Paul Lynch
> > > Aquilent, Inc.
> > > National Library of Medicine (Contractor)
> > >
> > > ______________________________________________
> > > R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list
> > > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> > > PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> > > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
> > >
> > >
> > 
> > 
> > -- 
> > Paul Lynch
> > Aquilent, Inc.
> > National Library of Medicine (Contractor)
> > 
> > ______________________________________________
> > R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list
> > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> > PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
> >
> 
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.

-- 
Csardi Gabor <csardi at rmki.kfki.hu>    MTA RMKI, ELTE TTK