Time for Usenet R Group?

>I probably shouldn't suggest this, because I can't volunteer to implement
 >it.  However, I bring it up in the hopes that if (1) others agree and (2)
 >the R core group think it a good idea that a suitable volunteer will come
 >forward.
 >
 >I am finding that the flood of R email messages is becoming difficult to
 >deal with, even using filters, etc., in my email client.  Would we be
 >better served by establishing a Usenet newsgroup?  Would that be practical
 >or impractical?  Would it create problems for the maintainers of R?
 >


I agree with you on the "flood" of messages lately.  Often this flood 
accompanies a new release, but this flood has continued unabated for longer 
than I would have imagined.  The good news is that R is becoming more 
popular and this (hopefully) attracts more developers, which results in 
more libraries, etc.  The bad news is that with more users come more questions.

The problem I see with a Usenet group is that unless it is moderated, the 
ratio of noise to signal is quite high and flame wars erupt, spam bots 
scour for new email addresses to plague and the war merely 
escalates.  There are two problems with moderation:  1) someone has to 
moderate the group; 2) someone has to inform users of inappropriate posts - 
maybe; and 3) the message delay would be intolerable to those accustomed to 
the near instant feedback we are privileged to get with the superb list we 
have now.  One alternative to a Usenet newsgroup would be something along 
the lines of SourceForge's discussion boards.  At least this requires the 
project to be registered and the group be accessible via a web-interface.

Personally, I don't find it a huge burden to go through and filter messages 
by topics that interest me at the moment.  I move all the other R related 
posts to my own archive and, if I need something not personally archived, I 
have other sources to get them from.

Have you considered getting the messages in digest form?

"Mike Prager" <Mike.Prager at noaa.gov> writes:

I am finding that the flood of R email messages is becoming difficult
to deal with, even using filters, etc., in my email client.  Would we
be better served by establishing a Usenet newsgroup?  Would that be
practical or impractical?  Would it create problems for the
maintainers of R?

everything is possible -- but you should ask whether the people you'd
like to be on the newsgroup would follow, and perhaps if it isn't just
a matter of modifying email client/usage of email work habits.  

For me, it's mostly a matter of permanently sorting/scoring on a few
key people (r-core and 7 others) and temporarily sorting/scoring on
interesting threads/topics, and that seems to take care of 95% of the
information I'm looking for (i.e. orders the mail to read, when I
want/need/etc to read), the rest ending up in an
end-of-the-day/week/month mailbox/folder to peruse later.  But your
needs might be different.

best,
-tony

A.J. Rossini  /  rossini at u.washington.edu  /  rossini at scharp.org
Biomedical/Health Informatics and Biostatistics, University of Washington.
Biostatistics, HVTN/SCHARP, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
FHCRC: 206-667-7025 (fax=4812)|Voicemail is pretty sketchy/use Email 

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This e-mail message and any attachments ... {{dropped}}

I agree with you on the "flood" of messages lately.  Often this flood 
accompanies a new release, but this flood has continued unabated for 
longer than I would have imagined.  The good news is that R is becoming 
more popular and this (hopefully) attracts more developers, which 
results in more libraries, etc.  The bad news is that with more users 
come more questions.

I don't consider that "bad news".  That's just "how it is".  As far as I 
can see, it's all good news :)

Personally, I prefer having the email list with the individual messages 
(rather than the digest) because I check email frequently and can catch 
things as they come in.  If the list moved to Usenet or a web forum, I 
doubt I would check the list as frequently, if ever.

-roger

Actually, check the archives about a year ago when this was brought up and the associated
problems.  Ranging from spam harvesters, copyright and the like.

Best, MEH

Mark Hall
Niigata Prefectural Museum of History

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