An alternative way of plotting the data and results of models of $J/\psi$ suppression

We propose an alternative way of looking at data on anomalous J/ psi suppression. The proposed method is in principle equivalent to the one used by the NA50 Collaboration, but it permits to visualize separate contributions of individual processes responsible for the disintegration of J/ psi 's produced by a hard process in nuclear collisions. The method can be used provided that the time sequence of contributing mechanisms is known or assumed. It offers an alternative graphical presentation of the onset of anomalous J/ psi suppression in Pb-Pb interactions observed by the NA50 Collaboration at the CERN SPS and might contribute to explain why different mechanisms, such as J/ psi suppression by the quark-gluon plasma and by co-movers in the dual parton model or in Monte Carlo microscopic approaches, all lead to an approximate description of anomalous J/ psi suppression. (29 refs).