[asterisk-users] FW: hi Dan

[Joe Greco]

> Sorry, I can't resist.  
> 
> How do I join the Mail List Nazi Corp?  Do I have to be invited, or can I
> just self appoint myself?  Asking neophyte questions are objected to by
> some, top posting by those who blast others, etc.  
> 
> How about leaving member chastisement to the sponsor of the list?

That's unlikely to happen in most cases.

> Some people have no one within 250 miles of where they are to learn from or
> learn better by working with code than reading inscrutable examples from
> different versions, and other inanimate pages of examples that have "wrong"
> variables, etc.  

Yes.

> Nearly everyone can be criticized for something, Asking "dumb" questions,
> top posting, bottom posting and leaving 3 pages of "crap" to scroll through,
> answering questions that were answered 5 posts down, because they didn't
> review the newer messages before posting, and more.
> 
> Be charitable and kind.  Have a nice day.  

There's absolutely something to be said for that.  On the other hand,
there is also something to be said for making people exhaust the
available resources prior to solving their problems for them.  You 
can even be charitable and kind while doing so...

Back in the '90's, I knew a really bright guy who knew Windows and
Novell inside and out.  He was just learning UNIXy stuff (FreeBSD in
particular) and he was discovering that there was a lot of application
for the stuff.  He would frequently approach me, desperately seeking an
answer to some general problem of some sort.  I would typically give
relatively vague answers, ending up essentially with a "figure it out
yourself."  This frustrated him to no end, but he would do so.  Later,
he would come to me, almost always with a workable solution, at which
point we would often discuss the ins and outs of several different
options.  His solution wasn't always the *best*, but it would always
serve as a foundation for the rest.

Years later, he thanked me.  At the time, he didn't really appreciate
what I was doing and didn't see the bigger picture.  Looking back on
it, I think he saw that I had always tried to aim him in a sensible
direction before shoving him off on his own to figure it out.  He
eventually grew confident enough and capable enough that he would no
longer need to ask for help.

I can fix your problems for you, or I can teach you to be self-
sufficient...  which one is doing you more of a favor?  It may seem
more "charitable and kind" to simply give someone answers, but I do
not think it actually is, at least in this sort of situation.

As for the original poster?  It's my impression, reading in between
the lines, that he probably hasn't tried that hard.  Asterisk on Linux
is pretty straightforward, and MOH is probably not that rough to get
running.  On FreeBSD?  That's a different thing.  Bleh.  But it's still
better to do it on-list rather than selecting someone at random to go
and bother.

I don't think anyone will prevent you from being "charitable and kind"
by providing answers to the guy's questions on the list though.

... JG
-- 
Joe Greco - sol.net Network Services - Milwaukee, WI - http://www.sol.net
"We call it the 'one bite at the apple' rule. Give me one chance [and] then I
won't contact you again." - Direct Marketing Ass'n position on e-mail spam(CNN)
With 24 million small businesses in the US alone, that's way too many apples.