I was new to the Alcatel platform a year ago and had this forum recommended to me as the best Alcatel forum. I had a few simplistic beginner type questions and when I posted it seemed almost the only answer I received was 'read the documentation' (I did receive a useful answer also to one of the posts). I had read the documentation that I could find on the Partner website and hadn't found the answers before posting and I replied that I had, and asked where I could find the documentation he was referring to. I didn't receive an answer to those questions. As I looked at other posts in the beginner and main forum, it seemed like 'read the documentation' was the common answer and it seemed to me like someone was just wanting to increase their answer rating without attempting to help the newcomers. I got frustrated from the apparent glib answers that seemed common and didn't visit the forum again for several months.

While on another forum around the same time I tried to answer another newby to Alcatel and also suggested they visit this site. They replied to me that they had and it seemed like all they received was 'read the documents' answer so they quit visiting; it seemed I wasn't the only one.

I have recently come back to this forum having a little more experience in the platform and as I perused the posts, I received a pleasant surprise; many, many good, helpful comments and answers even in the beginners forums. Not one glib non-helpful answer among them.

Maybe the 'read the documentation' only answer was a temporary thing. I have certainly seen great answers to posts, many that were helpful to me, since I started revisiting the site and I feel that Alcatel-Unleashed is as good as the person that suggested it to me said it was.

Jim

Usually answer about doc reading (or training) you will have f.e. in case when you post something like this:
I know nothing about PBX but I need 1, 2, 3 .... Please help.

Really in this case I cannot give good answer - if I say - use OMC - I will have next question (100%) - what is OMC, where I can download this tool and so on.

In such case my suggestion - find in your region person who can come on your site and manage some begining things - install OMC, connect to your system, show main step in management (may be you will need pay some many ).

After this your questions will be more correct and answer will be more helpful.

Yup, agree with vad, questions like "How to create a user in xxxx":
1. Has been answered N times already and is searchable on the forum
2. Is well explained on the documentation which is easily findable here.

But if you ask:

"I'm creating a new user and getting ´Software protection error´or ´Error in Database´" THEN we will try to find a solution for you and help. I think we all have a lot of job already to be looking for basic questions that have been already answered.

I wish I could, but I can't really remember what I was asking in my posts. I had received two weeks training in Westford last year and have the ACFE, but they didn't cover features in the training and I think it was something about that, or the release of the OMC, maybe, I had experienced some sudden trouble with that logging into a couple of systems. So it might have been about blocking broadcasts, or finding a release .11a instead of the .11d, then maybe not.

I truly believe that the RTMF answers that I and others experienced were a fluke. I still believe it was someone just trying to increase their answer rating...or I could have been posting in the wrong categories. I do know that in the last month or so I have been seeing good, helpful answers, even if the questions were kindergarten level.

I have experienced, and still experience difficulty negotiating through, and finding documentation on the partner website. It could have been right there before me, but I didn't see it, in fact, it was right here on this forum that I viewed and downloaded my first 'OXO manual' a couple of weeks ago. I was told they didn't exist, but I knew there had to be one...

Thanks for the answers and in some part, I agree...one more thing I am curious about though, why have a 'beginners' forum, just to expect non-beginner questions from them?

I think the beginners forum might throw some truly new people to this platform (or forums, for that matter) off if there aren't links to oft-answered questions, or links to the documentation that is suggested (which I asked for). I think the beginners forum is a great idea that I have seen in no other forum and needs to be well utilized.

I am triple certified with Nortel (a lot of good that does now) and even with training, I felt a little lost with almost no experience in this cool, but strange (to a Nortel guy) platform.

Thanks for the answers, insights and observations and keep the answers coming. Regardless what I felt in the past, I think this a cool and useful forum!

The "Read the documentation" answer became an issue for a little while, as i saw it too many time.
The rule I asked the moderators to run is "If you want to reply a correct answer, do it. If you think that the question bother you, don't reply to it".

I want it to be like this, because when I first started, I had beginners questions. Although I *READ* the whole documentation before I asked something. There are a lot of beginners around here that seriously do not read a line. Internet is great. This forum is free. Moderators and other people spend their personal time in here trying to help others, but others should show a minimum of interest by reading it.

I hope you will find what you are looking for, and that you will be able to help us helping other soon !

Welcome on the board,

Frank.

I completely agree that people should make a good, not half-hearted, but good attempt to find the answer in the documentation online or in training material, as I did before I posted the first time here. As I learn by experience, I expect to be able to assist others with simpler, then more complex problems they may encounter.

The more I work with this platform, the more I personally like this product, and I look forward to installing more in the next few months.

Scary as it may sound, I am one of my company's installation technical support people nationwide as we start offering this product to our bread & butter small/medium business customers.

Jim