Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:42:01 -0500
Reply-To: Arthur Tabachneck <art297@ROGERS.COM>
Sender: "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From: Arthur Tabachneck <art297@ROGERS.COM>
Subject: Re: Why we have SAS-L
Andy,
I agree with your comments but particularly wanted to respond to your
closing statement, "On the otherhand, If you folk move on..."
To my knowledge, not one person who was originally on sas-l in 1986 is still
on sas-l. When we folk move on there have always been others to take our
place.
The goal of this thread was simply to discover as much as possible to ensure
we've done what we can to ensure that continues to happen. There are
numerous issues to consider (e.g., the need to ensure that a user controlled
forum continues to exist, the need to ensure that a mechanism (like
sasCommunity.org) exists to fill some voids that sas-l can't fill, the need
to have sufficient input from SAS when appropriate and beneficial, the need
to ensure that one can search the archives that amass over time, the need to
have a way to identify the correct answers, etc., etc.
Art
-------
On Fri, 25 Feb 2011 03:48:29 -0500, Andy Bolton <AndrewBolton@HALIFAX.CO.UK>
wrote:
>Gosh, I can't imagine there not being a SAS-l.
>
>Of all the places to get an answer SAS-l is the place I come to first
>when, in my head, I pre-screen the question and know that none of the
>other places will have an answer. I don't even bother going there.
>
>In (my) early days it was as a Ph.D. Student Ecologist. Now is as the MD
>of a handful of people Analytics and Modelling consultancy.
>
>I also know here there are no *axes to grind* or *products to sell* (I can
>not express how much the answer "oh, in order to do that you need to buy
>this new shiny thing" irritates me.)
>
>I'm on SASprofessionals.net I don't really think it'll take off (sorry
>birdies, not without a radical re-think about what it's for) in the same
>way. I'm on LinkedIn and do use it for business, but again, I don't think
>it'll take off as "the place to go for answers"*.
>
>The interface to SAS-l is *old fashioned*, but I'm forty now, so I'm old
>fashioned!
>
>But it isn't the interface that makes SAS-l unique....
>
>it's the people.
>
>While you folk out there take the time & effort to answer the same
>question over and over again for those folk on the start of the curve, or
>swap hints and tips across new SAS/products I think it'll keep going.
>
>On the otherhand, If you folk move on...
>
>Andy
>
>* why the asterix - the only way I can see a migration from SAS-l is an en-
>mass move of the list, links to it's history, and all you folk associated
>with it, to an open group on LinkedIn.
>
>Called probabaly "SAS-l"
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