[asterisk-biz] NGTLive Telecom solution provider

[Alex Balashov]

lists at contacttel.com wrote:

> Well at first there was the users list.. then mark and co. Decided  
> let’s make the business list for business ops... and then nothing..
> We need an advertise@ or advertising@ or something and push all the  
> crap there, while here is the list for people that run asterisk as a  
> business and not want to do business (sell ata’s , hire, etc)

I think that would reduce much of the list's existing utility.

There's nothing wrong with corresponding on this list in a manner
intended to effect the transaction of commerce.  Some people have made
intelligent and well-thought out introductions of products and
services here, and having a forum through which to reach a reasonable
mass of potential buyers and sellers is okay as well as to discuss the
use of Asterisk in commercial settings and applications.  If you're on
this list, I think you understand that you have signed up to receive
that kind of thing from time to time.

As with any other forum, though, the audience must be appropriately
and compellingly targeted to achieve marketing results, as well as to
avoid annoying the audience.  If it's something that seems like it
might be of interest to commercial users of Asterisk, it's fine to
pitch it in principle.

Even the casual dialog and banter adds to the character of the
community and should not be assailed, IMHO.

The problem starts when people post garbage.  It's difficult to define
garbage in an inter-subjectively useful way, but most people know it
when they see it.

Usually it's something overly general that doesn't specify (implicitly
or explicitly) a particular problem facing list members that the
product or service purports to solve.  It's the exact kind of vapid
crapola you would get in a semi-targeted spam message, except it's to
the list.

Individually spamming subscriber addresses is also not acceptable;
like almost everyone here, I imagine, I filter this list's traffic
into a folder so I can read - or not read - it at my convenience.  I
don't need pretentious faux-direct mail in my inbox - I get enough ("a
while ago, you requested information about {...}").

Also, telecom is a sector especially wary of fly-by-night vendors and
bogus operations run by posers who won't be around in half a year.
Some of that has to do with its being (relatively) heavily regulated
in the US and many other countries, but also it just has a
conservative tradition, I feel.  Perhaps that has to do with the size
of capital investments traditionally required to operate, although
obviously open-source telephony and/or Asterisk have taken that down a
few notches.

Thus, while there is nothing wrong with being a new company trying to
drum up some new business and get established, you should expect to be
laughed out of the room if your messages and your web site do not
reflect even a cursory attempt at professionalism, proper use of
language, spelling/grammar, etc.  If your technical details are
hopelessly vague or are improbable exaggerations, you won't be taken
seriously either.

It's not that we're a tough crowd;  however, we have standards and we
will hold you to them, as everyone in any industry should in the
interest of quality, safety, reliability, prevention of fraud, etc.
At least, I'd like to think we have standards.

More controversially but I think accurately, some of the differences 
that periodically arise here are obviously cultural and regional in 
nature, if for no other reason than that the patterns are too 
consistent.  There are obviously places in the world where spam is 
considered a legitimate means of product introduction and promotion, 
where quality or the perceptions of it are nearly irrelevant compared to 
a low price, where loud, bombastic tall tales and gross exaggerations 
are an acceptable - perhaps even necessary - sales strategy, and 
pointless haggling for its own sake is a closely-held value.  I suppose 
I can see the argument that in a chaotic bazaar where everyone's a snake 
oil salesman, you have to be one too.

That's not the game we're playing here, however "international" the 
membership of this list.

-- 
Alex Balashov - Principal
Evariste Systems
Web     : http://www.evaristesys.com/
Tel     : (+1) (678) 954-0670
Direct  : (+1) (678) 954-0671