[Asterisk-Users] Grandstream Source?

[Steve Totaro]

It seems we have a mailing list:

THE NATURAL LIFE CYCLE OF MAILING LISTS

Every list seems to go through the same cycle:

1. Initial enthusiasm (people introduce themselves, and gush a lot about how
wonderful it is to find kindred souls).

2. Evangelism (people moan about how few folks are posting to the list, and
brainstorm recruitment strategies).

3. Growth (more and more people join, more and more lengthy threads develop,
occasional off-topic threads pop up)

4. Community (lots of threads, some more relevant than others; lots of
information and advice is exchanged; experts help other
experts as well as less experienced colleagues; friendships develop; people
tease each other; newcomers are welcomed with
generosity and patience; everyone---newbie and expert alike---feels
comfortable asking questions, suggesting answers, and
sharing opinions)

5. Discomfort with diversity (the number of messages increases dramatically;
not every thread is fascinating to every
reader; people start complaining about the signal-to-noise ratio; person 1
threatens to quit if *other* people don't
limit discussion to person 1's pet topic; person 2 agrees with person 1;
person 3 tells 1 & 2 to lighten up; more
bandwidth is wasted complaining about off-topic threads than is used for the
threads themselves; everyone gets
annoyed)

6a. Smug complacency and stagnation (the purists flame everyone who asks an
'old' question or responds with humor to a serious post; newbies are
rebuffed; traffic drops to a doze-producing level of a few minor issues; all
interesting discussions happen by private email and are limited to a few
participants; the purists spend lots of time self-righteously congratulating
each other on keeping off-topic threads off the list)

OR

6b. Maturity (a few people quit in a huff; the rest of the participants stay
near stage 4, with stage 5 popping up briefly
every few weeks; many people wear out their second or third 'delete' key,
but the list lives contentedly ever after)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Wade J. Weppler" <weppler at wwworks-inc.com>
To: <asterisk-users at lists.digium.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2003 12:40 PM
Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] Grandstream Source?


I agree.  I was in exactly the same spot as you just over a year ago.  I
jumped into Asterisk without any idea of what any of the terms you
mention mean.

I vowed to setup a FAQ for users in my position, but now that I'm knee
deep in it, it's hard to put myself back into that mindset and decide
what's necessary and what isn't.

As you're currently in that position, I'd be more than happy to answer a
set of questions, and post them as a newbie-FAQ.

-wade


> I have to defend us newbies on this.
>
> This environment does not facilitate sequential knowledge building!
Based
> on my entry to Asterisk, I should have already known
> T1/E1/VOIP/SIP/FreeWorld/H.232/X100P/PBX/FXO/FXS/channel bank etc you
get
> the idea (still trying to figure out "skinny"...cisco something, I
know).
> Heck, I'm struggling to get a grip on what and how to use/confiure SIP
for
> linux and keep my hair.
>
> You don't start off with a prerequisite of knowledge to join like a
> class/school. You don't have the you-must-have-asterisk-101-before
going
> to asterisk-102 before you can join this list. You have a forum that
is
> GENERAL.
>
> I would like to a better effort to provide a more sensible way to
start
> helping us newbies. I have to say that the Digium handbook helped a
> little, but not much. I have googled till I couldn't see straight. I
just
> don't yet have the "big picture" that most of you do. I couldn't even
tell
> you if I need a channel bank or a channel changer ;) at this point.
>
> A group of you seem to expect people to have a knowledge base that
allows
> for entering keywords to google. I don't know those keywords. You know
the
> context to search for when someone says I'm having a problem with
insert-
> thing-here.
>
> Instead of the usual, "Search the archives". It would be more helpfull
to
> give a hint on what to search for. I could search for SIP and get back
> several hundred "answers". Then I have to figure out where that answer
> lies in the series of possible answers. Then I have to somehow figure
out
> if it works.
>
> As most of you teachers (past and present) should know, not all of us
> learn the same. Some people just "get" written material. Some NEED the
> "spoon" to make it to the next level. Some need the hands-on
experience
> and other's just can't learn any more than they have already
know(those
> people are not likely on this list, however).
>
> You do realize that the http://www.asterisk.org/index.php?menu=support
> lists the mailing list first for support, don't you. In fact, you have
to
> go to the second page before you even see the google reference. More a
few
> people tend to look for the FIRST way to get help not ALL ways to get
> help...
>
> <flame suit on>
>
>
> On Thu, Sep 18, 2003 at 08:31:59PM +0200, Dave Cotton wrote:
> ...
> > Absolutely agree with you Steve.  I left teachers training college
in
> > 1970. I shock some teachers when I said that in all the years since
I
> > haven't taught anyone anything. I've just enabled them to learn.
> > The problem is that in most national education systems the teacher
is
> > expected to provide the answers to pass some test at the end of the
> > course. Thinking is not part of the curriculum.
> > --
> > Dave Cotton <dcotton at linuxautrement.com>
> _______________________________________________
> Asterisk-Users mailing list
> Asterisk-Users at lists.digium.com
> http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
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