[R] Web based R-help not a list

[Sean Robert McGuffee]

On 11/9/11 7:22 PM, "David Winsemius" <dwinsemius at comcast.net> wrote:

> 
> On Nov 9, 2011, at 5:38 PM, Cem Girit wrote:
> 
>> Hello,
>> 
>>                Is there a web version of this R-Help user group
>> (such as
>> the ones under Google Groups) such that
> 
> There is Nabble. It's not going to make you any friends unless you
> learn to post in plain text AND to include context  ... too often not
> done by Nabble users. Gmane is also a possible website that can mirror
> rhelp.
>> 
>> 1.       I can do a search on any topic over thousands of posts on R
>> easily
>> and effectively
> 
> Yes, several. Have you read the information page and the posting guide
> yet?
> 
>> 
>> 2.       My mailbox do not overflow with emails so that I do not
>> need to
>> edit it every day
> 
> Yes. You were offered an option to get a digest when you signed up.
    I'm not sure if this response answers the question. It seems to me that
there is not an option to ask for help in R and get the answers to your
questions interactively on a webpage without involving your email address.
Unfortunately, I see this a lot with many computer based help/communities.
What I sometimes do to cope is make a separate email address with google
where I just add ".whatever" to the username part and subscribe with it.
Then I bother to make a different user on my computer so I don't have to
login and out of google on firefox to check it. It seems to me that this is
bending over backwards instead of a more obvious solution, but it's the only
solution I have found because the people who have helped me the most on this
site don't seem to be any different than myself in terms of them being users
like you and me without some sort of resource or credential or interest in
making the more obviously useful help webpage that your email speaks clearly
to me about. I mean, I write that email in my head every time I have a
question in R and I think this is a very legitimate question.
> 
>> 
>> 3.       I can arrange to receive only the responses to my posts
>> automatically
> 
> Most people reply to both the poster and the the list, but there is no
> enforcement mechanism. Your unwillingness to do any extra work to
> educate yourself is duly noted.
    This seems to be an offensive comment from one of the "Asperger's"
people that the posting guide refers to. Your question is a good one. I
think what R has going for it is that it is really convenient and that there
are often very quick and easy answers if you can get to them. The idea that
you should have to do extra work to answer simple questions is ludicrous,
and what's worse about the current system is that you also have to be
exposed to people's negative attitudes such as the one just displayed.
Unfortunately, I haven't seen any progress. All I can say is that if you can
learn to ignore the emotional tolls that people like this charge, they can
be helpful. I don't think we can ever teach them about the consequences of
their actions though because they don't have the part of their brain that
can experience the bad end of it that we go through when dealing with it.
> Speaking only for myself, I will NOT
> respond to any of your further posts because of your demonstrated
> privileged attitude.
    I wish you had decided this prior to your post, and I hope you get help
for your mental problems.
> It would not bother me if other regular readers
> followed my example.
    It would bother me.

    I'm not sure if this response answers the question. I think it's
sometimes best in the current world just to make a separate email address
and account for computer related help in general. How ironic! I know!

>> 
>> 4.       The content of the post might be better formatted for more
>> information other than just the text (we now have HTML!)
> 
> We do not agree that HTML is a better format. You are welcome to take
> your questions elsewhere if plain text is not acceptable.
    Some of us in the "we" do agree with you. I sometimes wonder if many
people on this list aren't familiar with some well done forum web pages. I
cite a c++ help page as an example of an extremely well done help and forum
webpage:
http://www.cplusplus.com/forum/
    On that page, there are few simple categories of help:
Beginners, Windows Programming, UNIX/Linux Programming,
General C++ Programming, Lounge, Jobs. There, too, all of the questions in
this email are addressed with answers I approve of. For example, after you
login, you can simply search for your question. Many times you find the
answer and are done. If not, you can write a nicely formatted question and
chose to subscribe to answers or not to just that question. It's ideal and
it's what almost all of us who use computers in 2011 expect from awesome
programs such as R. I imagine someone in this list could copy and modify
that page very easily, but I don't know. Anyway, I would hope that if anyone
on this list can do it, it would be a huge contribution to our world if they
would. That's my two cents.
>> 
>> 5.       I can attach pictures to my posts for questions related to
>> plots,
>> results etc. be quick and effective rather than just links to other
>> sites
> 
> .pdf and .txt files are acceptable attachments.
> 
>> 
>> 
>> [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> 
> I say again:  You are welcome to take your questions elsewhere if
> plain text is not acceptable.
    I say, thank you for your awesome email! I agree completely!