A bit of advice for new users
lhm.:
I see that your signature now has constructive content. That's an improvement. :-*
dudlee:
I am a relatively new user that only uses the basics ie: GV on SP1 and Callcentric only for E911 service on sp2. I have set up the OBI as my second telephone line to our regular house phone and do not have any special needs. I have also set up 2 other OBI's for my kids in college, which has worked out great by the way.
I have chosen to only use the OBI Portal with auto provisioning because that is all I need in my limited use of the device. If I had to configure the device for much more complicated or advanced uses, I would not hesitate to turn auto provisioning off and use the advice of some very knowledgeable folks on this forum.
One of the things that amazed me about this forum was that there was a group of very knowledgeable people that not only understood the intricacies of the OBI but were willing to help in any way, and I have to say immediately. The quick helpful responses amazed me. I don't see the need for chest-pounding and dominance displays. There is a great wealth of knowledge here that a lot of us newbies need in this area.
MichiganTelephone:
Quote from: dudlee on March 25, 2012, 08:53:28 am
I am a relatively new user that only uses the basics ie: GV on SP1 and Callcentric only for E911 service on sp2. I have set up the OBI as my second telephone line to our regular house phone and do not have any special needs. I have also set up 2 other OBI's for my kids in college, which has worked out great by the way.
I have chosen to only use the OBI Portal with auto provisioning because that is all I need in my limited use of the device. If I had to configure the device for much more complicated or advanced uses, I would not hesitate to turn auto provisioning off and use the advice of some very knowledgeable folks on this forum.
As long as you understand what you're giving up by doing that, that's fine — it's your device, after all. The problem is that sometimes new users are simply told to disable it without any explanation, just because the person giving the advice prefers to do that on his own OBi device. But they don't say it's their personal preference, and in some cases they sort of imply that you need to do it in order to accomplish whatever you're trying to do, which is usually not the case.
Quote from: dudlee on March 25, 2012, 08:53:28 am
One of the things that amazed me about this forum was that there was a group of very knowledgeable people that not only understood the intricacies of the OBI but were willing to help in any way, and I have to say immediately. The quick helpful responses amazed me. I don't see the need for chest-pounding and dominance displays. There is a great wealth of knowledge here that a lot of us newbies need in this area.
All I will say is that yes, there are some very knowledgeable people here, but not all of them are knowledgeable about every single thing having to do with the OBi devices, and where they get into trouble is when they feel obligated to answer every single question posted, without considering that the question asked might be in someone else's area of expertise, but not so much theirs. For example (and this is not a personal attack, just pointing out something that should be obvious), just because someone is an acknowledged and respected expert on something like Obi dial plans does not necessarily mean that person would the best person to answer questions about technical issues (for example, networking problems). I learned a long time ago that if someone asks a question and it's not in my area of expertise, I'm better off to let it be and let someone else answer it. Then if it just sits there for a day or two and no one has responded, I might take a shot at it if I think I can actually contribute something useful, but I'll usually preface it by saying something like "I could be totally wrong about this, but..." or something like that, so at least the other person is aware that I'm not fully confident of my response.
But, like everyone else here, I very much appreciate it when knowledgeable people give knowledgeable responses in areas about which they are very knowledgeable! ;) (I'm a lot MORE appreciative when they can do it without a side dish of attitude or condescension, but thankfully that's not a huge problem in this particular forum).
lhm.:
MT
Give it up.
Frustrated:
Quote from: MichiganTelephone on March 24, 2012, 11:29:28 pm
I have reread my original post several times (just did it again) and I honestly do not see where I said anything that should cause people to be so offended. Certainly nothing that deserved lhm.'s response, which sort of set the tone for what followed.
Quote from: MichiganTelephone on March 24, 2012, 11:29:28 pm
In fact, before I posted the message I actually deleted a couple of things that I thought might be construed as personal attacks, and precisely because I thought that such a thing had no place here. But once people started attacking me, I felt a bit less charitable.
You and I are so much alike.
I am new here but I have spent many years in other forums. I was the first member of codeguru.com to acheive 10,000 posts in those forums and 99% were attempts to help others. I disagreed with other members on many issues and I even wrote an article for that web site to show members how to do something.
Many times I have been in the type of situation you were here. It is often bizarre how people are so quick to swarm around someone when they have such very valid issues and no one is understanding.
The problem is when someone such as you or I make factual comments and then others make it personal and then things get ugly. In this situation, the original comments might have been a little personal but I can say from experience that even when comments are totally factual with nothing personal, someone will come along and make it personal and then the discussion has permanently degraded.
This is my advice from many years of experience and many encounters with this type of thing. Stick to the facts; do not get personal unless absolutey necessary. And here is the important part; when someone makes it personal, do not get caught up in that; just point out that the comments are personal and therefore irrelevant. If you respond to personal attacks, you will always lose; other members will let you drown. That happens in most forums at least.
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