Who comments on our SAS blogs? Thanks to a new weekly report created by Chris Hemedinger (and powered by SAS, of course), I now know who comments on every post. As the SAS blog editor, I do try to keep up with all the new blog posts, but I don't always have time to followup to see which posts are receiving comments.

Now I receive a report Monday morning that summarizes the week's blogging and commenting activities, or I can login to see all activity to date. As a result, I can now tell you about some of my favorite comments from last week.

On the SAS User's Group blog, Waynette writes these great weekly posts called Friday Innovation Inspiration. Some of them are based on customer interviews or SAS conference presentations, and a lot of them are based on these quick descriptions from users about how they innovate with SAS. Many of these hand-written descriptions have been collected anonymously from attendees at SAS events around the country. After last week's post on Ratemaking, Art Tabachnek commented to say he recognized his own handwriting, and to provide more information about that particular SAS project. He said:

Waynette,
That sloppy handwriting sure looks like mine! I seem to recall being asked (at the SGF in Seattle?) to scribble something on a bulletin board, in the demo room, regarding the most innovative way we have used SAS? Anyhow, the country was Canada and, while we never wrote it up in a paper, a powerpoint can be found at: Canadian Loss Experience Automobile Rating (CLEAR)
Art

Robert Allison might be a new blogger on the SAS Training blog, but he's no stranger to online SAS communities. His popular SAS/Graph displays have been impressing SAS users and Dashboard professionals for years. His recent post about displaying big data has received a total of 15 comments, including this one from Leroy Bessler:

Yes, always keep an eye out for stuff from Robert Allison
He is the King of Cool SAS Graphics.
See his new book "SAS/GRAPH: Beyond the Basics"
and his web page http://robslink.com/SAS/Home.htm

Rick Wicklin's DO Loop blog is consistently the most visited blog on our network. One of the many reasons readers like Rick is because he answers their questions. He answers questions on Twitter, on his blog, on the SAS discussion forums, and on other sites around the Web. Here's one question/answer exchange from recent post about editing titles in ODS graphs. 

John Johnson: So this is good for one-offs, right? Which works pretty well in an exploratory fashion, or for a presentation where you may not need to generate the graph again. But for graphs that require regenerating over and over, would we still need to extract the data using the previous tip or editing the underlying GTL?

Rick's Reply: Correct. If you want a plot to ALWAYS be customized, edit the GTL. This is a simple cosmetic touch-up after the plot is produced by the default methods. Great for slideshows, presentations, and blogs.

The SAS blog for hospitality industry executives includes another interesting exchange between blogger Kelly McGuire and reader Detlev Remy, on a post about revenue management.

Hi Kelly,
I strongly agree - we have to move forwards and we also have to focus on under-researched areas.
What´s about the long-term impact of RM on brand equity. At this stage I am looking forward to find some other academics to work on this...; or what´s about the measurement of the ongoing success of
RM practice (vs non-application), are there any measurements in place. Another topic which may be of interest...
Best wishes
Detlev

Hi Detlev,
100% agreed on the under-researched areas. You might be interested in the resesarch done by Cathy Enz, Linda Canina and Breffni Noone for the Center for Hospitality Research. I've told Cathy that the next step to this study should be to study hotels with RM systems and practices in place versus those without. I'll add your suggestions next time I speak with her!!
Kelly

Finally, on the SAS Bookshelf blog, SAS author Gerhard Svolba offers tips on how to relax after writing a book, and two of his fellow author Susan Slaughter chimes in with congratulations:

 Gerhard, Excellent timing. I am looking forward to following your suggestions in the near future...well, at least suggestions 1, 3 and 4. Number 1 is particularly apt since I never managed to clean up my desk after finishing my last book. I feel inspired by your example. Cheers!

If you've been afraid to comment on SAS blogs in the past, there's no need to be. These examples show you what commenting is all about, folks. It's about providing additional info, asking questions, sharing your opinions on a topic, or expressing thanks and congratulations to the blogger.