Hi everyone, This has been a particularly troubling week for me here on the Ifeffit mailing list. This week we have seen an unusually large number of poorly asked questions. Not bad questions, mind you, just questions that have been asked in a manner that makes it hard to provide a useful response. On Tuesday, someone had a question about a fit in Artemis, but only posted the project file which demonstrated the problem after being prompted to do so. On Wednesday, someone had an issue about LCF fitting in Athena that is contrary to most people's experience with the program. That person did not bother to provide an example project file or any other supporting information to clarify what happened. On Thursday, another person had an Artemis problem which was described in a short and cryptic email. Only after being prompted 3 times to post an example was someone able to be of help. Also on Thursday, we saw the third example in one week of a problem with Artemis, but no example project file to demonstrate the problem. Today, we see someone with a crystallography problem, but we do not see the actual data that would allow someone to reproduce the problem on their own computer. Happily, on Wednesday Paul Bingham posted a clear question and attached Athena and Artemis project files. He very quickly got two useful answers. You do see the lesson here, don't you? If your problem cannot be reproduced on someone else's computer, it is unlikely that you will get a satisfying answer. Don't wait to be prodded. Supply the project file or crystal data that demonstrates the problem *in your first email*. The so-called experts on this list, including me, really do want to help you with your problems. But we are not mind readers. You have to meet us half way. B -- Bruce Ravel ------------------------------------ bravel@bnl.gov National Institute of Standards and Technology Synchrotron Methods Group at NSLS --- Beamlines U7A, X24A, X23A2 Building 535A Upton NY, 11973 My homepage: http://xafs.org/BruceRavel EXAFS software: http://cars9.uchicago.edu/~ravel/software/exafs/