[Asterisk-doc] Should We Keep Chapter 5? was: Who's working on what? Chapter 5

[Jared Smith]

On Sun, 2003-12-21 at 17:23, Leif Madsen wrote:
> I don't think the document is a place for providers to be advertising. 
> As much as your intentions are to help tell the user about different
> services and how to set them up, in the end, it is an advertisement.
> 
I disagree... Just because we show people how to connect to FWD (or
IAXTEL or SendJaredSmithMoneyToMakeCheapCalls), doesn't mean we're
advertising for it.  (Heck... half of the VoIP providers listed aren't
commercial anyway!)  I have no problems whatsoever putting in a section
dedicated to connecting Asterisk to common VoIP providers.  While the
information in the book won't always be up-to-date, and may not cover
*every* provider, I still think it's a valuable thing to have in the
book.

If you've spent as much time as I have on the Asterisk mailing lists and
in the IRC channel, you'll realize that "How do I connect Asterisk to
provider FOO" is probably the second most commonly asked question.

As for a list of consultants, that *definitely shouldn't* be in the
book.  We can certainly point readers to a website that provides a list
of consultants, considering that 1) someone makes that website and 2)
that website is neutral.

> First, if the point is to tell the user about providers and consultants,
> then why can't they simple be listed in an appendix, or linked to a
> website which can be updated much easier than a document (what if
> someone happens to have a copy of the book from 6 months, or a year
> ago?)  If you have a link to a website, it will (can) always be current
> as opposed to a "published" document.

Two comments.  There's nothing that stops us from putting information
about connecting to VoIP providers in *BOTH* places... Have a note in
the book that says "This information is current as of Dec 2003.  For
more up-to-date information on connection to VoIP providers, go to
http://asteriskdocs.org/someURLhere.

Also, because this "book" is going to be freely available in electronic
format, and constantly updated (hopefully!), I'm not so concerned about
it being full of information from "a year ago".  Yes, print versions
will become outdated, but so what.  That's why they print second
editions.  And third editions.  And if the publishers don't want to
print a new edition, it's no big deal... get the PDF and print it
yourself.  

> Second, I don't think Asterisk and Providers go "hand in hand". 
> Personally I use Asterisk at home, and have never even thought about
> using a provider for anything at this point.  If I just want a book to
> tell me how to set up my Asterisk box, I may not appreciate a chapter of
> advertisement of the more prominent service providers in the middle of
> the book.  This seems like something that should be more of an Appendix
> type of thing if included at all.

They might not go "hand in hand" for you, and I can say from personal
exprience that I've never used one.  But I still think that a large
majority of Asterisk users, especially new users, will want to connect
Asterisk to some kind of VoIP provider, if for nothing else that to try
it out.

> 
> I agree with Olle that this type of thing can be difficult to keep
> maintained, and would rather focus more work on the other chapters. 
> Even though the book is "dynamic" from a certain point of view, once it
> is done, then it will become more static.
> 
> My other concern is that with the growing number of providers and
> contractors that are servicing and selling Asterisk that the chapter
> could dwarf the rest of the book.  Which is why I am more in favour of
> an appendix rather than a full chapter (especially in the middle of the
> book).
What's worse?  A large chapter, or a large appendix?  Again, I don't
expect this [chapter|appendix] to cover *ALL* possible VoIP providers
and configurations.  I imagined it would cover the most common ones.  It
should give new users just enough to get started.  If this
[chapter|appendix] gets to be bigger than 20 pages, then I'll find
something to axe!

> 
> Again, simply my suggestion, we all have equal say in this.
> Thanks,

Me too!  Again, just because I helped start this whole project doesn't
mean I'm right or that I have the final say... Let's argue the pros and
cons and then make a decision that's the best for the project.  I'd
rather go against my own judgment and do what's best for the book and
Asterisk than bear my ego and say "I'm right!".

Jared