From smckinney at bccrc.ca  Tue Aug 29 00:45:57 2006
From: smckinney at bccrc.ca (Steven McKinney)
Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2006 15:45:57 -0700
Subject: [Rd] Bug/problem reporting: Possible to modify posting guide FAQ?
Message-ID: <0BE438149FF2254DB4199E2682C8DFEB01D55528@crcmail1.BCCRC.CA>


If users post a bug or problem issue to an R-based news group
(R-devel, R-help, BioC - though BioC is far more forgiving)
they get yelled at for not reading the posting guide
and FAQ.

"Please *_do_* read the FAQ, the posting guide, ..."
the yellers do say.  So I read the BioC FAQ and it says...

http://www.bioconductor.org/docs/faq/

    "Bug reports on packages should perhaps be sent to the 
     package maintainer rather than to r-bugs."


So I send email to a maintainer, who I believe rightly points out

   "best to send this kind of questions to the bioc mailing list, rather
    than to myself privately, because other people might (a) also have
    answers or (b) benefit from the questions & answers."

Could the FAQ possibly be revised to some sensible combination
that generates less finger pointing, such as

   "Bug reports on packages should be sent to the Bioconductor mailing list, 
    and sent or copied to the package maintainer, rather than to r-bugs."

or

   "Bug reports on packages should be sent to the package maintainer, 
    and copied to the Bioconductor mailing list, rather than to r-bugs."


Could the posting guides to R-help and R-devel do something
similar?


Sign me
<Tired of all the finger pointing>


http://www.r-project.org/posting-guide.html

 "If the question relates to a contributed package , e.g., one downloaded 
  from CRAN, try contacting the package maintainer first. You can also 
  use find("functionname") and packageDescription("packagename") to 
  find this information. Only send such questions to R-help or R-devel if 
  you get no reply or need further assistance. This applies to both 
  requests for help and to bug reports."


How about

If the question relates to a contributed package , e.g., one downloaded 
from CRAN, email the list and be sure to additionally send to or copy to 
the package maintainer as well. You can use find("functionname") 
and packageDescription("packagename") to find this information. 
Only send such questions to one of R-help or R-devel. This applies to both 
requests for help and to bug reports.




[Rd] Bug/problem reporting: Possible to modify posting guide FAQ?
Steven McKinney