I have to defend us newbies on this.

This environment does not facilitate sequential knowledge building! Based on my entry 
to Asterisk, I should have already known 
T1/E1/VOIP/SIP/FreeWorld/H.232/X100P/PBX/FXO/FXS/channel bank etc you get the idea 
(still trying to figure out "skinny"...cisco something, I know). Heck, I'm struggling 
to get a grip on what and how to use/confiure SIP for linux and keep my hair. 

You don't start off with a prerequisite of knowledge to join like a class/school. You 
don't have the you-must-have-asterisk-101-before going to asterisk-102 before you can 
join this list. You have a forum that is GENERAL.

I would like to a better effort to provide a more sensible way to start helping us 
newbies. I have to say that the Digium handbook helped a little, but not much. I have 
googled till I couldn't see straight. I just don't yet have the "big picture" that 
most of you do. I couldn't even tell you if I need a channel bank or a channel changer 
;) at this point.

A group of you seem to expect people to have a knowledge base that allows for entering 
keywords to google. I don't know those keywords. You know the context to search for 
when someone says I'm having a problem with insert-thing-here.

Instead of the usual, "Search the archives". It would be more helpfull to give a hint 
on what to search for. I could search for SIP and get back several hundred "answers". 
Then I have to figure out where that answer lies in the series of possible answers. 
Then I have to somehow figure out if it works.

As most of you teachers (past and present) should know, not all of us learn the same. 
Some people just "get" written material. Some NEED the "spoon" to make it to the next 
level. Some need the hands-on experience and other's just can't learn any more than 
they have already know(those people are not likely on this list, however).

You do realize that the http://www.asterisk.org/index.php?menu=support lists the 
mailing list first for support, don't you. In fact, you have to go to the second page 
before you even see the google reference. More a few people tend to look for the FIRST 
way to get help not ALL ways to get help...

<flame suit on>


On Thu, Sep 18, 2003 at 08:31:59PM +0200, Dave Cotton wrote:
...
> Absolutely agree with you Steve.  I left teachers training college in
> 1970. I shock some teachers when I said that in all the years since I
> haven't taught anyone anything. I've just enabled them to learn.
> The problem is that in most national education systems the teacher is
> expected to provide the answers to pass some test at the end of the
> course. Thinking is not part of the curriculum.
> -- 
> Dave Cotton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
_______________________________________________
Asterisk-Users mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users

Reply via email to