[ferret_users] Use descriptive subject headers in messages to this group !!!

[Billy Kessler <william.s.kessler@xxxxxxxx>]

Hello Ferret Users - I have written this before but we seem to need it again:

1) This group is very useful, and its archives are also very useful.

But both are far more useful and searchable if messages have => descriptive subject headers <= Please do this! 
A subject like “Ferret” or “Plot” just means that the archive-searcher needs to open each message to see if it is what s/he needs to know.

2) Please search the archives BEFORE writing to hundreds of people around the world. Very often your question will have been answered already, and you will find many useful hints. It's easy:

http://ferret.pmel.noaa.gov/static/Ferret_search/ferret_mail_archives.html

Ansley is very generous about answering questions, but in fact her job is developer. There is no “help desk” here, we rely on each other. 

Please do your part by looking at the documentation and archives before writing to the whole group. If you don’t find an answer, then do write to the group; many of us have used Ferret for decades so usually someone will have figured this out in their own work. With a good subject header, you’re more likely to have this person recognize that they know the answer.

3) I also recommend looking at the many example scripts that illustrate features of Ferret that you are trying to understand. You can run these in your own Ferret session; they show step-by-step how to make many kinds of plots. For a list of these, type (in a terminal window or preceded by ’sp’ from within a Ferret session):

Fgo demo     ! list with brief description of all demo scripts

Then when you see one you’re interested in:

Fgo -more [specific_demo_name]   ! see the code, list of arguments, type/shape of input files, etc

Then run any of these in a Ferret session to watch it work.

Billy K
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
William S. Kessler
NOAA / Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
7600 Sand Point Way NE
Seattle WA 98115 USA

william.s.kessler@xxxxxxxx
Tel: +1 206-526-6221
Fax: +1 206-526-6744
Web: http://faculty.washington.edu/kessler/