[asterisk-users] How to ask questions the smart way

[Alex Balashov]

As a matter of personal opinion, I think 90% of the useful takeaways  
for this specific mailing list don't have so much to do with politics  
and attitude as with asking specific questions of a manageable scope  
and formulated in an addressable way.

Many questions lack conceptual integrity and good sense. This has  
nothing to do with whether it is a newbie question, but with whether  
the poster understands the problem and whether they are able and  
willing to communicate it competenty and thoughtfully.  It is  
perfectly possible to ask 1st day, Asterisk 101 type questions in an  
intelligent manner that invites a respectful reply and perhaps even  
taps into a sense of noblesse oblige from expert users, instead of  
scorn and contempt for being lazy and/or unable to exercise clear  
patterns of thought.

--
Sent from mobile device

On Jul 15, 2009, at 9:00 AM, "Danny Nicholas" <danny at debsinc.com> wrote:

> A useful guide;  Sadly many posters won't read any of it.  We have  
> all kinds
> here, but the overall experience can be quite good and useful if you  
> apply
> patience and principles.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com
> [mailto:asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Alex  
> Balashov
> Sent: Wednesday, July 15, 2009 1:19 AM
> To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
> Subject: [asterisk-users] How to ask questions the smart way
>
> Inspired by AG Projects' Adrian Georgescu's post of Eric S. Raymond's
> classic "How to Ask Questions the Smart Way" to the OpenSIPS-users
> mailing list[1], I'm going to repost it here:
>
>     http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
>
> As Adrian said, "This a good read for those who show up on mailing  
> lists
> without any guidance about how to ask the right questions and then
> complain that nobody answers their questions as they want."
>
> I think there's never a wrong time and a wrong place on a public
> high-volume mailing list for all the participants to take a moment and
> meditate on this issue a little bit.
>
> [1] http://www.openser.org/pipermail/users/2009-July/006873.html
>
> -- 
> Alex Balashov
> Evariste Systems
> Web     : http://www.evaristesys.com/
> Tel     : (+1) (678) 954-0670
> Direct  : (+1) (678) 954-0671
>
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