[asterisk-users] FW: hi Dan

[John Millican]

Joe Greco wrote:
>> 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

Slightly paraphrasing a very old and wise saying:
Give a man a fish,
he eats for a day.
Teach him how to fish,
he eats for a lifetime.
-- 
JohnM