SAS Support Communities rolls out more welcome mats

[BeverlyBrown]

These forums are only as useful as they are friendly and welcoming – and, of course, helpful and relevant. That's why, as staff advocate for our  Learn SAS category, I'm stoked to announce two new public boards there. Drop by and post a “welcome” message on the:

- New SAS User Community, for anyone new to using SAS or experienced in one area, but trying something unfamiliar

- SAS Training: Course Discussions forum, for Programming 1 and Programming 2 instructors and students

We've also welcomed several closed (members-only) groups and a new community for our neighbors in Canada.

Thank you for being a part of this burgeoning community. We never take for granted that, while this is the largest and most comprehensive online source of SAS topics, it's not the only place for questions and answers. That's why we encourage SAS employees to provide answers through users' channels of choice, including via chat, Quora, Reddit, SAS-L, Stack Overflow and so on.

Friendliness matters

As the new forums launch, I want to draw attention to a ticklish issue all online forums face to some extent: friendliness. Stack Overflow addressed it on their site earlier this year in this post, Stack Overflow Isn’t Very Welcoming. It’s Time for That to Change.

The gist: While experts are quick to answer questions with helpful solutions, they're not always friendly and welcoming to new users. Especially if those new users aren't yet savvy on the best way to ask for help. Last month, Stack Overflow followed up with a new code of conduct, introduced in a blog post.

Thanks to many of you, our forums enjoy a reputation for being welcoming. Testy exchanges are rare. And it's inspiring to see the lengths some of you go to be helpful. Two examples:

1. How do you manage SAS, started last year by @D_e_n_n_i_s,  a seasoned SAS user who sought fellow SAS administrators' wisdom. The post garnered 32 replies and has been viewed 2,000+ times.
2. How can we poplarize %data2datastep further?, started recently by @FreelanceReinh to better equip new users. Nine members and 41 replies later, the thread shows we still have work to do. If you're a new SAS user, help the experts help you by searching the forums before you post your question. That's the first of 4 steps to getting a fast, helpful answer.

Thanks and a challenge

Thanks again for being a part of our communities. We challenge everyone – especially those answering questions – to see to it that we continue to foster a friendly atmosphere. @ChrisHemedinger, head of the SAS Support Communities program, recently told a group of our most active members, "Our goal is for this site to be the most helpful and the friendliest discussion forum for SAS users on the Internet."

That should be a cinch for a group that helped a SAS newbie propose marriage with SAS!