Hi all, I agree with Brian that R-sig-phylo is starting to become inundated with course announcements to the detriment of the listserv. For what it's worth, my 'vote' would be to limit course mails in a way described by Hilmar, which is quite similar to what Liam just expressed, such that they are more infrequent and specifically on topic. There are too many ads right now, but they can be useful - Back when ads were less common a couple years ago, I found one useful and passed it on to one of my grad students. I am reluctant to put more work on volunteer mods, but it does seem that a rule may be needed...
And thanks to Michael for being willing to pause announcements and engage. John On Tue, Jul 29, 2025 at 11:52 AM Liam J. Revell via R-sig-phylo < [email protected]> wrote: > Dear colleagues. > > I largely agree with Brian & would perhaps make the very modest > suggestion that if the title of your course doesn't include the word > "phylogenetic," "phylogeny," or variants thereof -- and maybe even if > the course description does not include the analysis of phylogenies in R > -- your course advertisement is probably not appropriate for this list? > > Best wishes, Liam > > Liam J. Revell > Professor of Biology, University of Massachusetts Boston > Web: http://faculty.umb.edu/liam.revell/ > Book: Phylogenetic Comparative Methods in R > <https://press.princeton.edu/books/phylogenetic-comparative-methods-in-r> > (/Princeton University Press/, 2022) > > > On 7/29/2025 7:18 AM, Brian O'Meara wrote: > > CAUTION: EXTERNAL SENDER > > > > R-sig-phylo was once a place to discuss phylogenetics in R. > > > > It�s now a place to get ads from Physalia, PR Statistics, Transmitting > Science, and Instats about courses and seminars they are offering (most > paid, though not all). Some of the ads are relevant for using R in > phylogenetics; many are not. But the listserv is now over 78% ads from > these four organizations (more stats athttps:// > brianomeara.info/posts/rsig/); only 4% of the most recent threads were > about actual questions on using R for phylogenetics. It�s even worse in > other listservs; in June, 2025, ALL 28 threads in the r-sig-ecology > listserv were announcements of this sort ( > https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-sig-ecology/2025-June/thread.html), so > this is definitely a strategy these organizations have chosen to adopt. > > > > There IS interest and value in a lot of the advertised courses, but it�s > a different interest � in the same way R in finance could be important but > only marginally overlaps with phylogenetics, so it would not be great if > the vast majority of r-sig-phylo posts were about day trading. Perhaps it > is time for these organizations to create an r-sig-courses or similar > listserv, or use one of the many tools available for running a mailing list > dedicated to potential customers of their organizations. > > > > We�re living in an era where a lot of online forums are potentially > going to be full of AI-generated inauthentic comments; a working email > forum could be valuable as a place for humans to talk to other humans, as > this one has been in the past. That�s not going to be possible if people > flee because it is now used as a marketing list. > > > > Hilmar Lapp, our very long-serving, volunteer, list moderator, posted > something similar months ago ( > https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg06067.html ) > with some generous guidelines that allow some posting (most of the orgs > have still posted in excess of this). Like him, I do see cases where a > course posting could be relevant, so I�m reluctant to say we should ban all > course announcements, but I think it could be worth having a rule like this > at this point. Though maybe the organizations involved could try to listen > to a plea from the community and choose to stop instead of putting yet more > work on our mod. > > > > Thanks, > > Brian > > > > > > [[alternative HTML version deleted]] > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > R-sig-phylo mailing list [email protected] > > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-phylo > > Searchable archive athttp:// > www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > > [[alternative HTML version deleted]] > > _______________________________________________ > R-sig-phylo mailing list - [email protected] > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-phylo > Searchable archive at > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > -- John Soghigian, PhD Assistant Professor, Parasitology Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 4N1 Canada [[alternative HTML version deleted]] _______________________________________________ R-sig-phylo mailing list - [email protected] https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-phylo Searchable archive at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
