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3 reasons why you should write an article for the SAS Communities Library
AnnaBrown
Community Manager

The phone rings. It’s a colleague with a question about SAS. Your community feed is peppered with very similar questions on a daily basis. Your email and IM light up with more SAS questions related to the same topic. You’ve answered them all, individually, time and time again. This cannot go on. Have you considered writing a SAS Communities Library article? If not, you should.

Though I could argue there are dozens of reasons to write an article, I’ve boiled it down to a good three:

  1. It’s a timesaver, a “one and done,” or however you’d like to think of it. An article allows you to address a certain topic in a clear, easy-to-follow format that you can send to your colleagues until your heart’s content.

  2. You get the glory. This may not be the chief reason you participate in the SAS Communities or became a SAS practitioner in the first place. But let’s face it, you know a lot of very detailed, specialized information. Why not be recognized for it as the author of an article? You’ll receive badges and increase in community rank. Moreover, you’ll have a tangible piece of published content with your name by it. How’s that for beefing up the ole’ portfolio?

  3. You’re giving back to the community. Think about how you came across the latest go-to tip or trick with SAS. The challenge you overcame is something that you no doubt would like to prevent others from having. Your fellow practitioners will thank you for the trail you blazed and for saving them this invaluable time, as they can pick up and use your tip right away. Doesn’t that feel good? 


How to write an article
Now that you’ve decided to write an article, what’s the first step? After a certain amount of community activity, you will earn the “Article Author” role. This means that when visiting the SAS Communities Library, you’ll see the “Create An Article” option in the upper-right corner:

 

Create an article.png

 

Click on that orange button and off you go. Drop in text, insert images and video and provide attachments as needed. Be sure to assign a Label to your article as well:

 

Choose a label.png

This helps visitors to the SAS Communities Library landing page filter articles based on their interests. See the right sidebar of the landing page for labels:

 

Labels.png

 

How to edit, delete or publish your article

You can save your article and finish and publish it later. Later, return to the library home page and click the Library Article Dashboard link at the bottom right corner.

 

BeverlyBrown_0-1586466581415.png

Your article is in the Drafts queue if it hasn't yet been published. If it has been published and you're making a revision, it's in the Unpublished Revisions queue.

 

To resume editing, click the title and scroll down to choose Edit Article, Delete Article or Publish.

 

Before you re-publish an existing article

 

If you're revising an already-published article, select the Minor edit box. This will prevent unnecessary email notifications being sent to library subscribers.

BeverlyBrown_1-1586467265198.png

You’re published! Now what?
Once you’ve published your article, be prepared for questions. Community members have the ability to comment on articles with questions and observations.

Speaking of community discussion, know that posting a “New Message” on individual communities is still a great way to drum up conversation on a topic. New messages don’t have to be questions; they can serve as a starting point for you to voice your perspectives on a specific topic, and see what the community has to say on it. If a discussion leads to a ton of chatter, we, the SAS Communities Management team, will evaluate it to serve as a base on which to create an article.

Sound like something you’re interested in? Have questions? Ask away in the comments section.

40 Comments
ChrisPillsbury
Obsidian | Level 7

What are the activity requirements to achive that ability? Seems like the fantastic bit of code I developed could be of great use, but I cannot post it because i am not active enouogh on this community site. Seems like this requirment goes against reason three for writting such an article.

ChrisHemedinger
Community Manager

BOOM @ChrisPillsbury, now you can post.  The requirements are not steep, but we do like for folks to engage on the community in other ways, learn the local customs, etc. before embarking on writing articles.  I look forward to seeing what you have to share!

ChrisPillsbury
Obsidian | Level 7

I thought that my phone vibrated just a bit more intensly when I got the alert. Thanks Chris. Years ago I had scoured the web trying to find code examples that processed microtiter plate arrays. I finally just had to kick start the brain and develop something from scratch. I have been encouraged to share it with all that might benifit from it. So I will begin to draft out the article and let you bask in the coolness of it.

AnnaBrown
Community Manager

Bask we will ChrisPillsbury! Thanks for your interest in posting on SAS Communities! We can't wait to see your examples.

ChrisPillsbury
Obsidian | Level 7

 I submitted a draft for review. How does that process work?

AnnaBrown
Community Manager

The article just posted, Chris: An Advanced SAS program designed by a scientist

 

Thanks so much for the awesome content.

 

Anna

paulkaefer
Lapis Lazuli | Level 10

Hi @AnnaBrown and @ChrisHemedinger. I'm interested in contributing to the Communities Library, too. My idea for my first post would be about the paper I'm presenting at MWSUG. I'd do a high-level summary, but point to the full article and presentation for more information. Have I enough experience to be allowed to post?

AnnaBrown
Community Manager

Thanks for your interest, @paulkaefer! Your approach sounds perfect, and you should see the option to post a "New Article" (blue button) now on the SAS Communities Library home page. Looking forward to it!

 

 

PaigeMiller
Diamond | Level 26

When someone writes an article for SAS Communities, how can other users find out about this?

 

And where would we go to see articles that have already been written?

paulkaefer
Lapis Lazuli | Level 10

Hi @PaigeMiller, you can see other articles on the SAS Communities Library homepage. Users can select from the drop-down menu to subscribe to get emails about new articles in their inbox. You'll also get emails from any activity on posts you've commented on, or posts you individually subscribe to.

AnnaBrown
Community Manager

Great questions, @PaigeMiller and the only thing I would add to @paulkaefer's note is that you can filter the articles by topic through the "Labels" listed out in the right sidebar box. You subscribe to specific labels by clicking "Subscribe" in the orange bar underneath the list of articles.

 

Subscribe to labels screenshot.jpg

 

 

 

PaigeMiller
Diamond | Level 26

So the upshot of all of this is that I have been a member of the SAS Communities for many years, and I did not know there was a "Library" of articles.

 

Now I know. Now the link has been provided, so I can save the link and return as needed, or subscribe if desired. That's good.

 

But when I go to the home page of SAS Communities, https://communities.sas.com/ , I don't see any indication that there is such a thing as a "Library" of articles. Why is that? Wouldn't you want to make this a prominent link on the home page?

 

I continue to be very frustrated with the apparent lack of usability of SAS Communities.

AnnaBrown
Community Manager

Excellent point, @PaigeMiller, and we are aware that the Library should be called out more prominently on communities.sas.com. Users can navigate to the Library through the "Find a Community" dropdown but I agree, it's buried and not obvious. Thanks for your feedback; it's very helpful as we continue to work on the site.

solarflare
SAS Employee

Is there any documentation on formatting options when writing a post with the editor, such as colors and styles for tables? Also, the editor seems to work pretty poorly. I don't see any of the options mentioned in the tool tip like the "clip area" or multiple editors for article sections. There is no editor scroll bar so I have to scroll all the way up the webpage after highlighting text to change the style and then scroll all the way back down to get back to where I was editing (I'm using Chrome).

 

Is there a better way?

Thanks!

AnnaBrown
Community Manager

Hi @solarflare, thanks for your feedback. I see you found a way to drop in a table, as shown in your article here: https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Communities-Library/Hierarchical-Forecasting-with-SAS-Visual-Fore...

 

For everyone's reference: You can build a table in excel and add it in as a picture, or copy/paste a table built in something like Word. Just make sure the table isn't too wide - just a few columns - for it to show up well. 

I hear you on the lack of an editor scroll bar. This is great input for future iterations of the editor design.

tomrvincent
Rhodochrosite | Level 12

Can't be done:

 

"You have not yet achieved the experience level on the community to create your own article. Keep coming back and posting discussion topics though, and you'll earn it!"

ChrisHemedinger
Community Manager

Try now @tomrvincent!

tomrvincent
Rhodochrosite | Level 12

Got it...thanks, @ChrisHemedinger

art297
Opal | Level 21

With sasCommunity.org being eliminated is the Article's section the most reasonable place to post one's SGF papers, powerpoints and code? I know that Github is out there, but I seldom see stuff from there coming up when I do a search for SAS code. On sasCommunity.org I've always created a page for each of my presentations and, in each paper, included a link to the page.

 

paulkaefer
Lapis Lazuli | Level 10

I second @art297's question. I foresee myself contributing more to SAS Communities Forums, and using LexJansen.com more when searching for others' work published at conference and local/regional user groups. Definitely an opportunity for the Communities Forums/Library to grow, and perhaps more of us should participate in SAS-related questions on Stack Overflow?

Quentin
Super User
Sascommunity.org is being eliminated???
ChrisHemedinger
Community Manager

I was lucky enough to see @Quentin in person today at SESUG to explain the sasCommunity.org decision.  That's worthy of another topic post, but the short answer is that the sasCommunity advisory board examined the declining traffic and contributions over the past few years, and decided that it was time to help SAS users to get more out the more modern and well-maintained sites.  This communities site for SAS users, and GitHub for code projects in general, were among those mentioned.  If some of you are wondering why you didn't hear about it yet, it's because the board decided to give a "heads up" to the top contributors first, with a more general announcement coming out soon.

 

To answer @art297's question -- of course we welcome your articles with your conference topics/materials.  sasCommunity.org always encouraged presenters to share in that way -- I've built several of those pages on the site myself.  We'll work to come up with some good examples that folks can follow, if they choose that path.

akulkarni
Fluorite | Level 6

Thanks for sharing the information. I have been working on some projects in SAS now and would love to share the code/macro I created with other users to make things easier for them. I would also like to recommend corrections on some macros I have used before. Can you please let me know how I can get more active on the community? 

AnnaBrown
Community Manager

Hi akulkarni

 

Check it now. You should be able to start a new article.

 

Thanks!

Anna

ZegerNieuweboer
Fluorite | Level 6

Hi Anna,

 

I prepared an article for the SAS community Data Management: "GDPR gives a boost to data logistics". In summary: The new EU data protection regulation stimulates the investigation of appearance and validity of data stocks within a big governmental organization.  Can you please let me know how I can get more active on the community?

 

 

AnnaBrown
Community Manager

 Hi @ZegerNieuweboer,

 

That sounds like a great article! What a relevant topic given the May 2018 GDPR enforcement date. Give opening a "New Article" a try now, you should have permissions to post.

 

Anna

DavidBalaban
Calcite | Level 5

How do I add my articles?

ChrisHemedinger
Community Manager

@DavidBalaban After you've spent some time on the communities, reading and contributing to other discussions, you'll achieve the rank necessary to create new articles.  It doesn't take long -- but it's an important phase to become familiar with the community and get a sense for the type of content that resonates here.

ecofred
Fluorite | Level 6

Dear SAS community,

My reputation is not high enough (and only 2 years in SAS), but I wanted to give something back for all what the community gave me, but I may leave the SAS community at the end of the month.

 

I would consider the following topics:

 

- (my favorite) When you're locked in SAS BASE: Automate and communicate your QC process (with PROC COMPARE / DOSUBL - RUN_MACRO - RUN_FILE).

- Every output deserve its own Page X of Y in a Single document: RTF/Proc Stream, PDF/#byval(pg) of #byval(pgtot)

    This workaround for pdf is not glamour, requires more programmer inputs, but it works, so I wanted to document it

- Faking NWAYS-Distinct (an ongoing quest to fill the gap between SQL CUBE/ROLLUP and 'Level' stat PROCs)

- A case for JOIN (SQL JOIN, MERGE or HASH) over FORMATS (This one may be controversial).

 

How can I share it if I can not write an article?

 

Cheers

Fred.

tomrvincent
Rhodochrosite | Level 12

@ChrisHemedinger can you define 'some time '?

ChrisHemedinger
Community Manager

@tomrvincent You need to have achieved at least the Contributor rank, which means that you've contributed several posts/replies to other content, and you've been a member for at least a couple of weeks.

sarahfung532
Calcite | Level 5

Hi I'm a new comer of this communities, but I would like to share some exciting SAS DS2 coding ideas in here. Can I post a article in here? 

 

Best,

Sarah

BeverlyBrown
Community Manager

Hi @sarahfung532, that's awesome! Article authoring privileges are bestowed after a community member has demonstrated a certain level activity in here. Posting and/or answering questions, those sorts of things. Participate and it won't be long before you'll be able to publish.

sshetter
Fluorite | Level 6

I looked previously for a D-index macro / code and saw some code was shared but wasn't quite correct.  I have code to share and details I can share. I will look to do so... (or to avoid delay, I may just have one of my more prolific colleagues share it).  

 

First, I'll go find that first post and let folks know that it is a bit more complicated...

AnnaBrown
Community Manager

Sounds like a plan, @sshetter. Look forward to your article! 

Daniel_M
Obsidian | Level 7

@AnnaBrown 

 

Hi Anna, I've written a a macro program for a novel effect-size analysis in SAS that I would love to write up and share with the larger community. If there's an opportunity for early-access to the post articles functionality, that would be wonderful. Thanks and take care!

AnnaBrown
Community Manager

Hi @Daniel_M,

 

Sure thing, that article sounds super useful. You should be able to post an article now.

 

Anna 

DaveShea
Lapis Lazuli | Level 10

Hi,

I have drafted an article for the SAS Communities Library, but not yet published it. I wanted to add some labels to the article, but the ones available to be picked from really don't cover what my article is about, so I was looking for some ideas as to how best to label the article.

 

My article is a set of SAS code examples to accompany the book Getting Started with the Graph Template Language in SAS® by Sanjay Matange.

 

In a perfect world I would assign some or all of the following labels if they were available:

Graph Template Language (GTL)

Statistical Graphics Procedures

PROC TEMPLATE

PROC SGRENDER

Sample SAS code

Output Delivery System (ODS)

 

So far, the closest one that I can find is the rather dull "SAS Programming", which is true but not very enlightening.

Also, I notice some articles have Tags as well as Labels, am I missing something fundamental here about assigning Tags which seem to be a bit more free form?

 

Also what

 

Any thoughts ?

 

Cheers,

 

Downunder Dave

Wellington
New Zealand

ChrisHemedinger
Community Manager

@DaveShea You can add the tags after the article is published. 

 

We don't have labels for every topic, as it can be a struggle to govern these. They are meaningful only if there are several articles that share the same label -- as it's most useful for filtering to a collection.  I've added a Data Visualization label which is a bit more general, but could be applied to multiple articles.

 

By using the important keywords in your title and article, your topics will easily surface for anyone searching for that content -- that's the main driver for community traffic.

AFeldesman
Calcite | Level 5

I have been working on a SAS solution associated with gathering data through Qualtrics survey software and then using SAS to analyze the data.  I worked with someone from the SAS technical support unit.  I had planned on posting the article on LinkedIn and I did that yesterday and so far I have had nearly 250 impressions.  The support unit thought I should also post the article on the SAS Community site, but apparently I haven't "used" your site enough?  Seems a bit odd as I know I use the site to find solutions.  And I even did a presentation in 2019 at the SAS Global Conference.  So is there a way I can still post my article?   Feldesmana@gao.gov