[R] How to ignore data

Ben Bolker bbolker at gmail.com
Mon Dec 13 20:58:58 CET 2010


Steve Sidney <sbsidney <at> mweb.co.za> writes:

> 
> Oh dear oh dear!!! another arrogant statistician/scientist
> 
> One asks for help and instead one gets an ear full!!!
> 
> So much for the much vaunted helpful R community.
> 
> But thanks anyway, I guess you were trying........
> 
> Steve
> 
  I know I shouldn't bite, but didn't I give you a helpful answer?
Shouldn't that be "One asks for help and gets an earful in addition
to the help"?
  There are a variety of possible responses to a question that suggests
that the questioner wants to do something that one thinks is a bad idea:
they represent various combination of (1) (requested) help to perform 
the task asked and  (2) (unrequested) advice. Personality, philosophy,
and the degree of perceived unwisdom/danger in the specified activity 
determine the mix.

  cheers
   Ben Bolker



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