[Freeswitch-users] Get on IRC day!!

Fri Oct 8 15:06:33 PDT 2010

I concur what Michael says.
We see quite some people on IRC, who (and I am just stating a fact)  
require a LOT of help, althought they didn't really do their homework,  
and their main objective is to connect 2 phones at home to a common  
SIP account.
So I would agree that in a such case, detailed explanations are  
required. But the issue is, most FreeSWITCHers won't have the time for  
it, and those newbies don't have money to spend for consultancy or a  
full VoIP course.

And for someone already "VOIP-enabled", FreeSWITCH's learning curve is  
quite fast, if you immerge yourself in it for at least 2 weeks, if you  
read the wiki and the book, and if you join the channel, not only to  
ask questions around, but also to read other discussions. I learn so  
many things just being there.

Also, a lot of people think that there is a team somewhere in charge  
of completing the wiki.
Well, no.
It's everybody's task to do it, if one feels he has an interesting  
info to share, or a nice example to give to newbies.
Also there are still quite some mistakes to correct (I corrected one  
the other day in the doublenat scenario example), and variables to  
document.
Even a newbie can document, once he has understood something that is  
not explained on the wiki.

David Ponzone  Direction Technique
email: david.ponzone at ipeva.fr
tel:      01 74 03 18 97
gsm:   06 66 98 76 34

Service Client IPeva
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Le 08/10/2010 à 23:31, Michael Collins a écrit :

>
>
> On Fri, Oct 8, 2010 at 1:06 PM, mazilo  
> <Nabble at slickdeals.endjunk.com> wrote:
>
> 1. FS needs to setup/provide a good forum, instead of the unfavorable
> mailing list.
> No, it doesn't. We've heard this argument for three years. We've  
> openly stated that while *we*, personally (the core FS team) don't  
> care for having a forum, we are not against the community setting  
> one up and maintaining it. We had one person try two different  
> things with a forum, one of which I think is the Nabble thing. It  
> died a slow, painful death from lack of community support. Our  
> community as a whole just doesn't want one. An argument has been  
> floated that having a forum will allow the community to grow and  
> thrive, and therefore *we* (the core FS team) should sponsor and  
> maintain it. Frankly, we don't buy it. We feel like having an  
> AWESOME piece of software with enthusiastic users is what makes the  
> community grow and thrive. If someone stays away from FreeSWITCH  
> solely because they don't like our combination of mailing list, IRC,  
> and wiki then so be it. We respect their decision.
>
> I tried to bring in as many newbies and/or other PBX users as
> I could (at least 4 newbies) and none of them has shown up.  I  
> followed up
> with them and got several answers. One of them is I had had my share  
> with
> mailing lists in the past and I don't like to deal with it again. I  
> sure
> don't mind if FS has a good forum to attend. One managed to lurk  
> around and
> told me that there are a lot of FS experts here trying to help, but  
> she
> wouldn't understand at all when reading the replies addressed to  
> some posts.
> She told me the replies/suggestions were brief and vague with no  
> examples to
> lead/guide any newbies to make them trying to understand. Honestly,  
> I agree
> with her. This leads me to the next item below.
>
> 2. When helping a newbie, try to explain in more detail (best with an
> example) and don't be brief. For instance, when I posted
> http://freeswitch-users.2379917.n2.nabble.com/More-questions-migrating-from-Asterisk-to-FS-td5260522.html#a5260522
> this  asking for some help, I know everyone, including Antonio, had
> voluntarily tried to help. However, telling a newbie like me to use  
> param is
> really not going to help at all, let alone may completely discourage a
> newbie who tries to learn FS. Some people, be it a newbie or an  
> expert, will
> learn better to understand through examples. For sure, we don't  
> really want
> to encourage any spoon fed activities here.
> I respect your honesty. I will encourage those answering newbie  
> questions to be more explicit wherever possible. Just understand  
> that everyone on this list and in IRC is an unpaid volunteer, giving  
> of their time freely. In some cases an expert has to make a choice:  
> give a brief answer or give no answer. Given the option, I think  
> even a newbie would appreciate the quick answer as opposed to  
> silence on the wire.
>
>
> 3. The Wiki needs to be revised with additional examples.
> Agreed. Volunteers welcome. :) Seriously, I need as much help as  
> possible with the wiki. I definitely have a core of people helping  
> out. (You know who you are, and I thank you profusely.) I would like  
> to have more help. Keeping the wiki updated is a big job. Anthony &  
> company add features faster than we can document them! In many  
> cases, because Tony is such a great programmer, he can add stuff in  
> like an hour and it takes 2-3 hours for me to read the source code,  
> recompile, make changes to my dialplan or other configs, test  
> various scenarios, and then update the wiki with the new API, dp  
> app, chan var, SIP profile param, etc. All the while I have a day  
> job and other FreeSWITCH-related duties.
>
> There may be some
> few good suggestions with examples replied to the posts that helped  
> the
> posters. Perhaps, one needs to make sure those good suggestions with
> examples get added to the Wiki for others benefit. The
> http://wiki.freeswitch.org/wiki/Dialplan_XML Dialplan XML  and
> http://wiki.freeswitch.org/wiki/SIP_Provider_Examples SIP Provider  
> Examples
> are two good examples to follow. This way, a newbie can learn easier,
> instead of bombarding the list with the same questions from time to  
> time.
> We spent a ton of time on the FreeSWITCH book, which contains a lot  
> of the hand-holding newbies really need. It's relatively inexpensive  
> and you can get just the PDF if you like. (If you're destitute then  
> you can probably borrow the book from someone who has it.)
>
> <snip...>
> For instance, I recently (as far back as 3 weeks
> ago) told someone in a VoIP forum about FS conference calls and even
> provided the  http://wiki.freeswitch.org/wiki/FS_weekly_2010_09_15  
> link  (at
> the time). He replied back and told me that he doesn't know how to  
> make his
> VoIP device to support a SIP URI dial into the conference line.
> I'm not trying to be mean here, but honestly, if he can't dial any  
> of our ways of getting to the conference then he's *not ready for a  
> VoIP conference*!! We have many ways to connect:
> PSTN: 1-919-386-990
> SIP: sip:888 at conference.freeswitch.org
> GTalk: gtalk:conf+888 at conference.freeswitch.org
> Skype: call skype user "skypiax5"
>
> That's five different ways of connecting. I'm sorry, but that's more  
> than enough ways to get people to call a *VoIP* conference about  
> telecom software. If people are incapable of connecting from one of  
> these five ways then they are not yet ready for FreeSWITCH.
>
> I will keep working the wiki and making FreeSWITCH as easy as  
> possible for newbies. However, please keep in mind that those who  
> don't have telecom, networking, and/or VoIP experience are going to  
> experience a much steeper learning curve. That's just the nature of  
> the beast. To ease their transition maybe we could come up with a  
> recommended reading list? "VoIP For Dummies" kind of stuff maybe. If  
> you guys have any suggestions I'll put the on the wiki.
>
> -MC
>
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