[asterisk-users] RFC -- Improving the quality of the mailing lists

[Tilghman Lesher]

On Tuesday 27 January 2009 12:35:15 Wilton Helm wrote:
> >It seems to me that everything one may want to know would be contained
> >on voip-info.org
>
> My own experience is that it covers a very broad spectrum (far broader than
> Asterisk) and in a rather terse manner.  I have spent an hour or two at a
> time pouring over a topic there and come away little more enlightened than
> when I started.  Most people who know enough to create useful entries
> there, assume too much of the reader.  They assume that everyone reading
> the post works with Linux 40 hours a week at the command line level, and
> only needs a few VoIP clues to take an idea and run with it.  A better
> assumption would be that they know how to log on.  It shouldn't even be
> assumed that they know the difference between su        and
>     su -

Yes, but voip-info.org is not meant to be the end-all be-all for users who are
new to Linux.  There are far better resources out there for teaching Linux
newbies.  Instead, voip-info.org attempts to provide the sorts of information
that is useful for those already familiar with Linux and need the push up to
learn this particular application.

You could certainly compare and contrast the documentation for other
large daemon applications, such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, or BIND, to see
what each large application considers worthy of its documentation, versus
documentation for bringing a Linux newbie up to speed.  Note that I
specifically chose applications which are primarily daemons and do not
contain a GUI, as those are most comparable to Asterisk.

> I realize that this is challenging because different distros do things
> different ways.  That is another topic of its own, but is also one of the
> banes of Linux that is hurting its usability considerably.

Actually, the diversity of the Linux ecosystem is considered to be one of its
strengths.  The friendly competition between projects ensures that each
continues to strive for the best.  Any project which stagnates quickly falls
by the wayside.  It's certainly instructive that the continuing advances in
open source browser technology was what spurred Microsoft to once again
invest time into its own browser (whose development had stagnated after
the demise of its previous main competitor, Netscape).

-- 
Tilghman