[Asterisk-Users] Do people actually answer questions here?

[Andrew Kohlsmith]

On Tuesday 29 June 2004 02:42, Ralf Van Dooren wrote:
> But instead of complaining about the lack of -findable- documentation,
> one can try to enhance existing documentation.  That's the power of
> Open Source.  As I am not a coder, I'll be trying to help the
> community by making the documentation better, especially for 'new
> bees' like me.

This is where I have a problem.

The documentation is centered on voip-info.org and on Asterisk's plainly 
marked "Documentation" link.  It's been 32000 messages since I've signed up 
but I am *positive* that BOTH links are provided on the autoresponder when 
you sign up to this list.

How crystal-effing-clear must things be for people to go and look for 
themselves before complaining on this list?  Must we make the list moderated 
and autorespond with pre-fab Google searches that the asker simply has to 
click on and save themselves the trouble of writing the query into Google's 
search window themselves?

I'm serious here -- voip-info.org's search engine works.  Google works.  For 
newbies yes they may have some trouble with the incantations but that's why 
they should not be diving in headfirst and then bitterly complaining that 
nothing works on the list.  READ, dig around voip-info and asterisk's site.  
There's a WEALTH of knowlege there and most of it is not cryptic.  A lot of 
it is even geared to newbies.

Perhaps a glossary would be helpful but every day I start to think that basic 
research skills should be a prerequisite before being allowed to play with 
any OSS project.  It's frustrating for the newbie, frustrating for the 
experts and all around a bad thing.  You'll never have enough documentation 
to satisfy some people because they don't want to educate themselves; they 
want to ask questions and get personalized answers.  We do that too, for a 
price.  That's what consulting is all about.

-A.