Date:         Fri, 25 Feb 2011 03:48:29 -0500
Reply-To:     Andy Bolton <AndrewBolton@HALIFAX.CO.UK>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Andy Bolton <AndrewBolton@HALIFAX.CO.UK>
Subject:      Re: Why we have SAS-L

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"