Let's close by reminding everybody of the point being discussed,
within http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/res/statalist.html#others
"Don't walk away from the thread you started: Continuing or closing a
thread
you started is important, especially by answering secondary questions
and by
reporting what solved your problem. You can then thank those who tried
to help."
The emphasis is here first on continuing or closing the thread. Thanks
are
secondary -- but welcome.
Nick
[email protected]
Dupont, William
Thanks for your thoughtful response and clarification.
What brought my query to mind was one time when I posted a Stata
programming question. You responded within minutes with a very precise
answer that saved me hours of searching through the manuals. To my mind
it was obvious that you had completely nailed the question (in a way
like pointing out that someone had forgotten a comma). For that reason,
I elected to thank you privately.
In view of this thread, I guess that either response is ok but it is
probably better to err on the side of public thanks.
n j cox
[...]
More positively, one of the best things about the list is when
someone says, "Solution X works for me. Solution Y looks good too, and
it should be a useful thing to remember. Thanks to Tom, Ricardo and
Harriet for their suggestions.", or whatever.
That kind of response to me mixes informativeness and courtesy in good
measure and is what I would like to encourage.
Sometimes of course, a thread is closed definitively by an answer: "You
left out a comma", or whatever. In that kind of case I won't disagree
that a message to the effect that someone is grateful for that
correction is dispensable. Sometimes, gratitude can just be assumed.
Further, separate "Thank you"s are not a good idea. Thank everyone at
once.
In general, nothing in the FAQ should be incompatible with general good
sense.
Dupont, William
I did have one question about private responses. If I post a question
on Statalist and someone gives me a helpful answer should I thank her
publicly by posting my thanks on the list or privately by sending a
personal email. I could understand that thousands of Statalisters might
not want to read my thank you note. On the other hand some people who
give valuable help might like to be publicly thanked.
Your "Don't walk away" bullet appears to suggest that you prefer public
thanks. Is this correct?
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