[Asterisk-Users] FAQ, Documentation, How-to, etc

[Dorian Gray]

Tilghman Lesher wrote:
> No, to people new on the list, please do NOT disregard.  Learning to
> ask questions intelligently, by showing even a modicum of the attempt
> to help yourself is likely to produce far more friendly or, at the very
> least, polite responses.

I have to say, I agree with just about all Tilghman said, and the above 
sums it up quite neatly.

as an asterisk neophyte myself, I certainly have sympathy for others in 
the same situation; conversely, I feel at least a mild annoyance when I 
see people asking about things that are fairly clear in the 
documentation, in the expectation that this list is a resource along the 
lines of some magic answering device.

tragedy of the commons is not always easily avoided, clear. 
developers/contributors/etc. are not gods, but simple courtesy is due, 
if not respect.

however: I think some effort should be made to make people more aware of 
the resources available. the fact that various ways of searching the 
list archives have been mentioned (too) many times, says to me that that 
information needs to be centralized and made obvious (even if it already 
seems obvious to some of us). so put it in a FAQ, and make that FAQ 
glaringly obvious. in addition, put a courteous reminder in  said FAQ to 
the effect that we all of us need to be conscientious in our treatment 
of public resources such as this list. put that FAQ in the list 
subscribe welcome message or the list sig or the asterisk README or 
handbook or all of the above...and then if people ignore such basic 
documentation as that, sure they probably deserve a little derision.

++dg