How people do get information about the list?
On Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 9:05 AM, Matthieu Stigler
<matthieu.stigler at gmail.com> wrote:
Hi guys I was just wondering after those repeted scenes where people ask and get answered "search on the list", "this has been answered", "give reproducible example" how actually soemone totally new to the list might know about its functionning...
The "Search" link on the R homepage and the _first sentence_ on the mailing list page, "Please read the instructions below and the posting guide before sending anything to any mailing list!"
Assume the guy discovers the list through R page/ mailing lists/ r -sig-finance. How can he serach into the archive? Obviously, just looking at that page: "To see the collection of prior postings to the list, visit the R-SIG-Finance Archives <https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-sig-finance/>. won't help him so much (unless there is a way to search from that archive?). After some search (assume the guy wants something more precise than just google), the guy will maybe find that there is a searchable archive here (are there others?): http://marc.info/?l=r-sig-finance&r=1&b=200902&w=2
There are several others, found by clicking the "Search" link on the R homepage: http://www.r-project.org/search.html
Finally, say the guy searched and did an answer for his topic. She wants to ask, how should she formulate her question? No particular instructions (show code, give self repro example), are given...
Not true. The posting guide says small, self-reproducible examples are helpful. It also provides guidance on how to formulate a post to the list. Additionally, the "Final Words" section of the posting guide has this very useful link: http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
So I don't know... but there would maybe be another way to give a few informations on the list that could help people asking questions, and avoid people from the list to repeat always the same? Maybe kind of web page just metionning a few "advices" on how to ask, with links to searchable archives? Or any other idea?
Providing information isn't the problem. The problem is getting people to actually use it. Best, Josh -- http://www.fosstrading.com
Best Matthieu ? ? ? ?[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
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