Date: Wed, 10 Dec 1997 18:19:28 -0800
Reply-To: Tim Berryhill <twb2@PGE.COM>
Sender: "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
From: Tim Berryhill <twb2@PGE.COM>
Organization: Pacific Gas & Electric
Subject: SAS-L FAQ -- No Recent Changes
Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset=US-ASCII
SAS-L and comp.soft-sys.sas FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
One hopes the answers are the significant part, but tradition demands...
Last revised 9/16/97; changed Arnold Schick's pages
Revised 9/15/97; added http://www.stattransfer.com/lists.html
Revised 8/15/97; added ftp.uga.edu/pub/sas/contrib
Revised 7/18/97; added http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~statdata/
Q) How can I stop getting all of this mail?
send e-mail to the server to which you subscribed:
listserv@vm.marist.edu Marist University
listserv@vtvm1.cc.vt.edu Virginia Polytechnic University
listserv@uga.cc.uga.edu University of Georgia
listserv@AKH-WIEN.AC.AT University of Vienna
The subject line is ignored and the body should contain the command:
unsubscribe sas-l
Q) What if I try to unsubscribe and the server says I am not subscribed,
but it still sends me all the mail?
Send E-mail to a human-being:
SAS-L-REQUEST@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU
and ask that your ID be removed from the list.
Q) How do I read the messages?
The easiest way is to read the newsgroup comp.soft-sys.sas.
To have the messages mailed to you as they are available, send e-mail to
any of the mail servers:
listserv@vm.marist.edu Marist University
listserv@vtvm1.cc.vt.edu Virginia Polytechnic University
listserv@uga.cc.uga.edu University of Georgia
listserv@AKH-WIEN.AC.AT University of Vienna
The subject line is ignored and the body should contain the command:
subscribe sas-l your name here
e.g.
subscribe sas-l Tom Smith
is how Tom Smith would subscribe.
You are not the first to think of subscribing as "your name here."
Whatever makes you grin...
It is not always slower to subscribe through Vienna. It depends on
which side of the trans-Atlantic cable you are on.
Q) What about "Good Times" and other viruses?
The main thing I will tell you about viruses is, do not post anything
about them (not even a question--not to this list!) unless at least 20
people rely on you for virus answers. 90% of everything you have heard
about viruses is wrong, and I am not going to straighten you out here.
There are several web sites which describe viruses and treatments.
Q) Are SAS-L and comp.soft-sys.sas the same?
Eventually, they have nearly the same content. They work differently.
Q) How can I contribute?
Post a message to comp.soft-sys.sas, or send e-mail to the list at:
sas-l@AKH-WIEN.AC.AT University of Vienna
sas-l@vm.marist.edu Marist University
sas-l@vtvm1.cc.vt.edu Virginia Polytechnic University
sas-l@uga.cc.uga.edu University of Georgia
Use a subject line. If your subject line is "No Subject" many people
will ignore your message. If your subject line is "FREE SEX" many
people will read your message, but you (probably) will not like the
responses.
Include your SAS version and platform. Try to quote the error
message correctly. Consider cutting and pasting the log or output. You
may want to read a few posts before you compose your first one.
Q) Did anyone get my message? I got an error report, and I do not see
my message.
This is tricky. It depends on how you post and how you view. You can
post to the newsgroup or to the e-mail list, and you can read the
newsgroup or read e-mail.
If you post to the newsgroup and get an error message, the problem is
probably at your site and involves local magic words which we do not
know and cannot tell you. If you both post to and read the newsgroup
then you should be able to read your message soon after you post it.
If you post to the e-mail list you will almost always get error
messages. This is because the server will give you copies of error
messages it gets when it forwards your message to thousands of people
around the world. Normally you will not get copies of your own e-mail.
Q) Did anyone get my message? No one replied.
Perhaps no one had anything to say. Perhaps your message was very
general (like "my program failed") or specific to your site (like "what
is the name of my network printer"). Perhaps no one else on the list
uses the exact hardware and software you are trying to use. Perhaps
your mail gateway is down, and your message has not left your site. If
you want to verify that your e-mail is working, send e-mail to the
server (not to the list) with the body:
help
The server will send you a quick reference card in a few minutes.
If you really just want to verify the server is reachable, send the
server (not the list) the message:
thanks
You will get a brief response.
Q) Can I get a little less mail?
send e-mail to the server (not to the list) to which you subscribed.
The subject line is ignored and the body should contain the command:
set sas-l digest
NOTE: set sas-l mail will reverse this
Q) Can I stop the traffic until I get back from vacation?
send e-mail to the server (not to the list) to which you subscribed.
The subject line is ignored and the body should contain the command:
set sas-l nomail
NOTE: This does not save mail for you. It is a lot like unsubscribing.
NOTE: set sas-l mail will reverse this
Q) Where are the cool web pages?
Searching in http://www.altavista.digital.com for SAS, there are about
40,000 hits. Here are a few:
Faith Sloan's version of Karsten Self's SAS FAQ can be found at:
http://www.frsa.com/sas/faq.html
SAS Institute maintains a web at:
http://www.sas.com
The SI web site includes technical support FAQ pages:
http://www.sas.com/service/techsup/faq/index.html
Don Cram has notes on converting between Excel and SAS (both ways) at:
http://www-leland.stanford.edu/class/gsb/excel2sas.html
Arnold Schick maintains libraries of SAS macros at:
http://members.tripod.com/~schick/m-index.html
http://members.tripod.com/~schick/p-index.html
The Claremont Graduate School has some help at:
http://www.cgs.edu/acit/help/sas.html
A number of data sets can be found at the following (slow) URL:
http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~statdata/
There is a subscription form for several lists at:
http://www.stattransfer.com/lists.html
Q) Where are the macros?
Some people add macros they post here to the SAS File Contribution Server
at ftp://ftp.uga.edu/pub/sas/contrib. Get the file USER.DOC first.
Q) How can I get help from SAS Institute?
Call 919-677-8008 and have your SAS site number ready.
You can get your SAS license number from the top of any .log file.
Q) How do I search the archive?
Be careful. Most people who try this send their request to the list
rather than to the list server, and we all send them derisive notes.
The list server names begin with listserv, while the list name begins
with sas-l.
Send e-mail to any of the list servers:
//LOOKJFCB JOB
DATABASE SEARCH DD=RULES
//RULES DD *
SEARCH DDE IN SAS-L SINCE 20-JUL-96
INDEX # DATE.8 SENDER.30 SUBJECT.40
This search looks for posts containing the word DDE. It prints a list
of hits which contains the message date, the author and the subject
line. Then you can repeat the search, and list only selected document
numbers on the PRINT command. The second search includes the entire
first search, and adds a line like:
PRINT 11720 12438 76347
Q) How can I do a better search?
Be careful. Most people who try this send their request to the list
rather than to the list server, and we all send them derisive notes.
The list server names begin with listserv, while the list name begins
with sas-l. Start by sending a message to the list server with the body:
help
The server will send you a quick reference card. The author knows more
about searching than I do, so read it.
Q) How can I do an easier search?
If you have a web browser, you can try www.dejanews.com. Forms-aware
browsers will do better than Mosaic 2.1 there.
There is a gopher-based search engine for the SAS-L at
gopher://jse.stat.ncsu.edu under "Other Discussion Groups". There are
reports the search engine is imperfect in that when accessed via
Netscape, it returns different search results than when accessed via
gopher.
Q) What if someone gives me a bad answer?
If you are really unhappy with the answer and you provide your fax
number, some people will fax back your dollar.
Q) Who is in charge of SAS-L?
The people who manage the list rarely comment publicly about management
decisions. The list is un-moderated, which means any carbon-based
entity with a mailer can dump garbage into it. Many people at SAS
Institute read the list, but they rarely post to it and they definitely
do not control it.
Q) How do I fix a FAQ?
If you want this FAQ changed, send e-mail to twb2@pge.com. If you want
one of the referenced FAQ's changed, see that FAQ for details. This
being an anarchy, you are free to start your own FAQ.
If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the
shoulders of giants.
-- Isaac Newton
Thanks to Joe Kelley, Sally Muller, Greg Nelson, Melvin Klassen.
