---
title: Rules of Thumb to Meet R Gurus in the Help List
date: '2010-04-05'
slug: rules-of-thumb-to-meet-r-gurus-in-the-help-list
---

Here is my personal list of rules of thumb for people who want to meet some R gurus (quickly) in the R help mailing list (`R-help@R-project.org`):

- If you want to meet Dr **Bill Venables**, just say something about **Type III Sum of Squares** (better if you also mention the "unbeatable" **SAS**);
- If you want to meet Prof **Douglas Bates**, say something about **LSMEANS** (of course, with SAS) and P-values for the fixed effects in `lmer()` (or wait in the mixed-models group `r-sig-mixed-models@r-project.org` -- he often shows up there);
- If you want to meet Prof **Frank Harrell** Jr, say SAS is unbeatable (or efficient, golden-standard, high-quality graphics, whatever);
- If you want to meet Dr **Martin Maechler**, say something like "I need help on a **library** called `***`" (it is said that he would show up in 5 mins upon such mistakes, but I feel he is tired of correcting people who don't know the difference between a **package** and a **library** now);
- If you want to meet Prof **Brian Ripley** ([the-professor-on-whom-the-sun-never-sets](/en/2009/10/50000-revisions-committed-to-r/)), well, I guess you can say anything, because he is so devoted to the mailing list that you can see him [a.e.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almost_everywhere), but you have to be careful enough not to be "Ripleyed";

I've been reading the mailing list for about 2 years, so I may not know enough about all the gurus. Let me know if I missed anyone. The above list is not given for serious purpose, and my real point is I learned a lot from their advice and arguments.
