I never made any assumption athat anyone had any obligation to do anything
Perhaps the list would work better if posters who do not follow the posting guide are nicely told that they will more likely get helpful replies if they read and follow the posting guide and, in particular, provide a reproducible example. If the poster does not follow that advice then the poster can just be ignored. This thread pointed out that even though the original poster did not follow the guide and ignored direct suggestions that he still got his answer. The problem is that he felt insulted in the process. If the above procedure were followed he might not have received an answer to his problem but there would have been less animosity all around and maybe that's more important. Perhaps the posting guide could even suggest such an approach.
On 5/27/05, James MacDonald <jmacdon at med.umich.edu> wrote:
To add to Spencer's reply, I have two things. First, if you look back at your earlier list entries, Uwe asked you politely at least twice to read the posting guide. The reason for this is that the posting guide gives guidance to allow you to post questions that are clear enough to answer, and points you to other sources of information that you might not already know about. It was only after you appeared to ignore his advice that he 'yelled' at you. Second, you ultimately learned several things. As far as I can tell, Uwe did answer your questions, but more importantly, you learned how to interact on a list where you get free advice on how to use free software (the operative term here being *free*). Isn't that better than being ignored and not learning anything? Best, Jim James W. MacDonald Affymetrix and cDNA Microarray Core University of Michigan Cancer Center 1500 E. Medical Center Drive 7410 CCGC Ann Arbor MI 48109 734-647-5623
Spencer Graves <spencer.graves at pdf.com> 05/27/05 5:34 PM >>>
Hello, Erithid:
I'm very sorry you feel you got yelled at first thing in the
morning.
Please try not to take it personally, though I know that may be
difficult. After one superficially insulting reply, I just laughed and
told my manager, "Look what I learned for exposing myself to ridicule!"
My philosophy on this was expressed last December and
subsequently
added to the "fortunes" pacakage, from which I will quote for you now:
> library(fortunes)
> fortune("Graves")
Our great-great grandchilren as yet unborn may read some of the stupid
questions
and/or answers that I and perhaps others give from time to time. I'd
rather get
flamed for saying something stupid in public on this list than to
continue to
provide substandard service to the people with whom I work because I
perpetrated
the same mistake in an environment in which no one questioned so
effectively my
errors.
-- Spencer Graves (in a discussion on whether answers on R-help
should be more
polite)
R-help (December 2004)
I've heard from some of the best on this listserve that it
happens to
everyone. That doesn't make it right. If you can learn to accept this
as a different subculture operating by different rules of diplomacy, you
might get more out of this list, do better work with whatever you are
attempting to do, and enjoy life more. (My wife's middle name is Rose.
When she gives me a hard time about something, I just try to listen
and console myself with the thought that, "If I want to sleep in a bed
of roses, I must get used to the thorns.")
Best Wishes,
spencer graves
BJ wrote:
I just asked a question. If I was too vague, then i am sorry. I dont expect anyone to help me, but I thought that it was ok to put the question out there in case someone wanted to help me. I didnt expect abject hostility for it. Human decency was the only thing I did
expect.
If my question was a pain,badly formatted, or too juvinile, then i
have
no problem being ignored.I asked a question that the archives did not satisfactorily answer. I appreciate the help of the poeple on this
list
as they are an invaluable resource, especially since the R
documentation
is sketchy at times. I am sorry for wasting everyones time. I just
dont
like being yelled at first thing in the morning for asking for help on
a
help list. See you all around ~Erithid
______________________________________________ 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
______________________________________________ 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 ********************************************************** Electronic Mail is not secure, may not be read every day, and should not be used for urgent or sensitive issues. ______________________________________________ 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