[asterisk-biz] DIDX Query

[Alex Balashov]

On 11/04/2010 04:26 PM, Dan Journo wrote:

> I don't like it when I ask for a recommendation on the list,
> and I get a load of personal emails from guys with asterisk box on
> an ADSL connection saying they can provide me with service.

Most of the commercial entities on this list are part of what might be 
termed the open source-focused, low-end market segment, on both the 
customer and the vendor side.  This doesn't always mean they're bad; 
sometimes that's just a reflection of who they're stuck selling to for 
the time being.

So, you're going to get a lot of that.  I don't think there is much 
that can be done about it.  It's helped along by the mass-delusion 
fostered by Asterisk and open-source telephony, and to some extent 
open-source software in general, that all you have to do is throw up a 
box, install some stuff, and start realising instant, thundering 
profits.  There's no avoiding it.

> My wish is a list where people give others real, valid, truthful
> advice on suppliers and other business advice.

Sadly, you can't make people do that.  The best you can do is to judge 
their credibility based on your own impressions and values, and 
whatever value you attach to the opinions expressed by others.

It's an open list, not an exclusive club, so anyone can come here and 
scam and bamboozle you all day long.  :)  In the low-end VoIP sector, 
this is quite common, and is especially common -- I would say more 
like the norm -- from certain regions of the world for a plethora of 
economic and cultural reasons I'm sure you yourself can work out.

But in general, it's pretty easy to tell who is the real deal and who 
is not.  There's no rule of thumb or a clean heuristic that is easily 
anatomised;  it's just one of those things you know when you see.  You 
can intuitively gauge the intelligence of people by the depth and 
thoroughness of their writing, their perspective, the detailed advice 
they give, the way they formulate their ideas, and the apparent 
consistency of the conclusions they draw.  Alternately, you can judge 
by the professionalism and sophistication of their products and 
services offered.

That's just how doing business in an open-source conversational venue 
and ecosystem goes, as you probably know.  There are a lot of 
amateurs, fakers, scammers, indolent people, and just plain idiots, in 
the literal sense of the term.  There are people with questionable 
ulterior motives.  And then there are the folks you actually want to 
deal with.  You'll find the same thing on the commercial list or forum 
of every large open-source project, like MySQL or PHP, and forums like 
WebHostingTalk and DSLReports as well.

I would say there are no options other than to just keep asking 
questions, and hone your biases toward people that seem to know what 
they're doing and present a sincere, believable image in a 
commonsensical, intuitive kind of way.

It's not a foolproof mechanism, by any means;  really good scammers 
and bullshit artists know that this is exactly what reasonably 
intelligent people are looking for.  But amazingly enough, most of the 
low end "vendors" here, and in general, are really bad at coming off 
in a way that would make a professional, knowledgeable 
English-speaking person take them seriously.  I don't know if they're 
really trying anymore;  there are plenty of low-hanging fruit for them 
to pick, in the form of people who are illiterate and generally 
undiscerning in precise proportion to the degree to which the 
bottom-of-the-barrel dingbats' sales paradigms are functional.

-- Alex

-- 
Alex Balashov - Principal
Evariste Systems LLC
1170 Peachtree Street
12th Floor, Suite 1200
Atlanta, GA 30309
Tel: +1-678-954-0670
Fax: +1-404-961-1892
Web: http://www.evaristesys.com/