You might have a point there. I guess it's a tradeoff between transparency and pausing to explain that in a page of AD****s, you can click on "X" to obtain the arXiv eprint (if any). Even citing the arXiv is (IMO) often not done well: I claim the abstract page should be cited, since those of us with postscript printers like to download the PS file, which in my experience is much faster and certainly prints as it should (with the odd exception--- two pages in the Turyshev review don't print on my printer, apparently becase it cannot handle the sophisticated layout on those two pages).

One thing I was planning to suggest is that the sticky should suggest some on-line resources posters might want to check first, such as the UseNet Physics FAQ or Ned Wright's Cosmology FAQ.

Possibly the sticky could end with a section suggesting places to look for further reading. There one could offer a very brief tutorial (hopefully one sentence each) on using arXiv, ADS, Google Scholar searches.

Another possible topic would be tips for impoverished students whose university library lacks some book. I know of university libraries whose catalog is accessible to all (but hesitate to link for fear of overwhelming their servers with national requests) and can be used to verify bibliographic information. In my experience, public libraries may be willing to obtain a scholarly book on interlibrary loan which you can then photocopy. In brief, many students give up way too early when it comes to trying to obtain a good textbook.

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Chris Hillman

Read these PF posts. Avoid Wikipedia--- except for these versions. Read this and this suggested sticky. When asked for advice, I always say: never take advice!