Using Forums

Elastix FAQ - Using the Forums
How do I ask a question in the forums and what is the right way to approach it?

First of all, think about what your issue is and the best way to put it forward. Try to think how people are going to read it, and what questions that they might have as they are reading it.

An example of a useless question is:-

“I have installed Elastix and I can't make a call out and nothing comes in, what do you think is wrong?”

An example of a question that is likely to get replies would be the following:-

“I have installed Elastix 1.6 off the ISO image. I have setup a SIP trunk setup, and have a couple of extensions setup which can ring each other. I have setup an inbound and outbound route and pointed these to the extension and trunks respectively? I have had a look at the logs and it seems to mention something about the wrong context for the incoming call and outgoing just tells me that the line is congested (noticed this in logs for outgoing calls). By the way I have performed upgrades to 2.6 Freepbx, and also upgraded to the latest YUM updates - is it possible this is the issue?”

This last question provides a lot more information on the system and actually provides the responder with somewhere to start.

You need to remember that responders are not on the other side of the screen hanging on every response from you, so if they have to ask questions about your system and wait for the response each time, they are going to lose interest and answer the next 20 or so posts that occur between your responses and in most cases put their valuable time into those questions where the Original Poster has taken the time to frame his/her question correctly.

I have asked a question, and I believe I have provided enough information, but over several days, no responses. Why is no one responding?
Don't despair, it could be a quiet period on the forums. Especially as you may be in a different location to a large number of the responders. Whilst it might be your Monday morning, in Europe and South America it might be Sunday afternoon, and appropriately, some people turn the computers off or choose to take time out.

You could also have a very unique issue, which no one has come across, and unless someone believes that they can constructively answer your post, they choose not to, especially if they are responding to 10 or so other posts where they believe they can help.

Try asking your question in a different way. Even changing it to asking where you could find the resources to help you locate your own issue. This generally will bring a response. Responders generally love to help someone that wants to help themselves, so generally you will get a response.

I keep asking the Moderator to respond to my question, why don't they reply?
The majority of the moderators on the Elastix forums are just people just like you. On the whole they do not work for Palosanto, nor do they get remunerated for their time. Generally they have been made moderators to help Palosanto keep the forums clear of SPAM and make sure posts are in the correct area, basically doing the housework on the forums. Likewise there could be days that they are not online due to work or family ommitments.

I reported SPAM that I found on the forum, and I did not get a reply. Am I being ignored?
No, all reports are actioned by at least one moderator (all the moderators are notified of your report). Generally the moderators review and remove this SPAM as soon as they possibly can, however they have no automatic way of telling you that it was followed up with the current design of forum, but rest assured, if it is SPAM, it will be removed.