On 1/5/06, John Maindonald <john.maindonald@anu.edu.au> wrote:
>
> I've changed the heading because this really is another thread.  I
> think it inevitable that there will, in the course of time, be other
> lists that are devoted, in some shape or form, to the concerns of
> practitioners (at all levels) who are using R.  One development I'd
> not like to see is fracture along application area lines, allowing
> those who are comfortable in coteries whose focus was somewhat
> relevant to standards of use of statistics in that area 15 or 20
> years ago to continue that way.  One of the great things about R, in
> its development to date, has been its role in exposing people from a
> variety of application area communities to statistical traditions
> different from that in which they have been nurtured. I expect it to
> have a continuing role in raising statistical analysis standards, in
> "raising the bar".
>
> Another possibility is fracture along geographic boundaries.  This
> has both benefits (one being that its is easier within a smaller
> circle of people who are more likely to know each other for
> contributors to establish a rapport that will make the list really
> effective; also there will be notices and discussion that are of
> local interest) and drawbacks (it risks separating subscribers off
> from important discussions on the official R lists.)  On balance,
> this may be the better way to go. Indeed subscribers to ANZSTAT
> (Australian and NZ statistical list) will know that an R-downunder
> list, hosted at Auckland, is currently in test-drive mode. There
> should be enough subscribers in common between this and the official
> R lists that the south-eastern portion of Gondwana does not, at any
> time in the very near future, float off totally on its own.
>
> There are of course other possibilities, and it may be useful to
> canvass them.


Another possibi8lity, of course, is language-based lists. Any interest for
r-spanish@ ...    ?

Kjetil

John Maindonald             email: john.maindonald@anu.edu.au
> phone : +61 2 (6125)3473    fax  : +61 2(6125)5549
> Mathematical Sciences Institute, Room 1194,
> John Dedman Mathematical Sciences Building (Building 27)
> Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200.
>
>
>
> On 4 Jan 2006, at 10:00 PM, r-help-request@stat.math.ethz.ch wrote:
>
> > From: Ben Fairbank <BEN@SSANET.COM>
> > Date: 4 January 2006 4:42:31 AM
> > To: R-help@stat.math.ethz.ch
> > Subject: Re: [R] A comment about R:
> >
> >
> > One implicit point in Kjetil's message is the difficulty of learning
> > enough of R to make its use a natural and desired "first choice
> > alternative," which I see as the point at which real progress and
> > learning commence with any new language.  I agree that the long
> > learning
> > curve is a serious problem, and in the past I have discussed, off
> > list,
> > with one of the very senior contributors to this list the
> > possibility of
> > splitting the list into sections for newcomers and for advanced users.
> > He gave some very cogent reasons for not splitting, such as the
> > possibility of newcomers' getting bad advice from others only slightly
> > more advanced than themselves.  And yet I suspect that a newcomers'
> > section would encourage the kind of mutually helpful collegiality
> > among
> > newcomers that now characterizes the exchanges of the more experienced
> > users on this list.  I know that I have occasionally been reluctant to
> > post issues that seem too elementary or trivial to vex the others
> > on the
> > list with and so have stumbled around for an hour or so seeking the
> > solution to a simple problem.  Had I the counsel of others similarly
> > situated progress might have been far faster.  Have other newcomers or
> > occasional users had the same experience?
> >
> > Is it time to reconsider splitting this list into two sections?
> > Certainly the volume of traffic could justify it.
> >
> > Ben Fairbank
>
>
>
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