Despite competition from many sides, it's good to see that SAS-L (now synonomous with usenet newsgroup comp.soft-sys.sas) is still going strong and still providing a great service for anybody with questions or opinions about SAS.
Whilst I know that the newsgroup started in July 1993, I confess I've been unable to find when SAS-L started.
Figures from Google* show 28,000 posts per year over the last three years, possibly down to 25,000 this year. Web sites, newsletters and blogs have come and gone but the fact that SAS-L is still capable of pulling sufficient users to generate 70 posts per day shows that it remains *the* site for SAS knowledge. Google's list of top posters this month includes the names of some familiar SAS-L stalwarts including Ron Fehd, Arthur Tabachneck and Peter Crawford.
Catalist shows there are over 3,000 people subscribed through SAS-L, plus countless others accessing the information through comp.soft-sys.sas.
If you have some information to share, or you seek an answer to a problem that you've been unable to resolve yourself, try posting and be prepared to be surprised at how quickly you get a conversation and valuable help.
* http://groups.google.co.uk/group/comp.soft-sys.sas/about
According to sasCommunity.org, SAS-L was established in the 1980s. As we all know, the "eighties" was an extremely long decade that is still with us today, as evidenced by the continued popularity of Duran Duran.
ReplyDeleteSAS-L is a mainstay of interactive and sometimes exciting discussions of SAS and related topics. I'd say it's in "co-opetition" with other sources such as sasCommunity and blogs, rather than a competitor.
Chris @ SAS
Well put, Chris. And so, if I'm hungry like the wolf for information, or wondering is there something I should know, my reflex should be to join the wild boys on SAS-L :)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0611B&L=sas-l&P=R25415&D=0&H=0&O=D&T=1
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