hair-pulling frustration

[Sean Cole (Pi)]

HI Richard,

I have a suggestion for this, having just read the entire thread.

I too find it hard at times to get the time to even write here let alone
fill out a report on Bugzilla. And then to go through the process of
creating a recipe or sample stack. The reason for this is obvious, that
like many others here we are too busy actually making products (or trying
to) for our paying clients to set deadlines (often unreasonable, mostly due
to their ongoing misconception to the time it takes to make software
despite attempts to help them appreciate or understand it). The Bugzilla
form is, I'm sure you'd agree, far more involved than writing an email. And
I in turn appreciate that protocols need to be in place to avoid spammers,
etc.

How about this approach (which is nothing new - Apple use a similar system
and I personally have had much success with it). In the LiveCode app itself
(both Commercial and Community) in the Help menu should be a button to
submit a report. This can either take you to a basic form on the web or
internally in the app itself (a better option to keep down spam). This goes
through to a private list that only those on the RunRev development team
can read. This form should be far simpler than that found on Bugzilla,
i.e., Name, email, symptoms noticed, option to upload stack. If it was
included in the IDE then it would automatically gather data like the
platform, version number, etc. The team member that picks it up can then
decide if it is worth adding to Bugzilla, adding the submitters email to
the list and requesting more info via the Bugzilla repository if needed.

Psychologically this works in favour of the end user. They would be more
likely to provide feedback willingly if the thought that it was easy and
involved far less steps. You could even have a button on the form to
provide more details that could log you right into your Bugzilla account in
a one step process filling in any data you'd already provided and those
acquired from the system.

I have a bug (Bug 13801 <http://quality.runrev.com/show_bug.cgi?id=13801>) I
reported a little while back that, because I had no time because of my
clients demands on my time, has been marked as 'Resolved' due to my not
responding to their request for a sample stack. When my time is a little
more free'd up (i.e., not now, despite my ability to write this email -
proof that what you said earlier was bumpkin and unfair - emails are easier
to write than are sample stacks that can replicate issues along with
recipes.) I will be able to reopen the report and prove that it is indeed
an issue that needs resolving.

Here are some more reasons I find using Bugzilla so frustrating
(infuriating at times). The search feature (a term I use lightly) is
appalling. Loading it (bearing in mind I have a 150MB internet line) takes
over 10 seconds to load. Every. Single. Time. That. I. Want. To. Do. A.
New. Search!! So, trying to track down if someone else has already done one
is laborious. If i enter my search in the bar at the top of the page it
only returns new and pending results. So resolved ones are not shown. But
that is not made clear in the search bar. So then you have to go to the
advanced search which is not clear on how to access (at the top we have
buttons for Home, New & Search then a Search Button after the search
dialogue - Is that clear?). When I add a comment to a bug and click the
'save changes' button it saves but then takes me to the next bug in the
list. As an alternative I can write a rant on here with far more
satisfaction and far less time wasted ;)

Simple is best, my favourite philosophy. A simple form in the IDE that gets
submitted for review and/or follow up. Far more likely to get results.

All the best


On 13 November 2014 14:39, Richard Gaskin <ambassador at fourthworld.com>
wrote:

> > I'm just expressing frustration about barriers to reporting bugs.
> > For example, a login is required to file a bug...
>
> ...as it is for this list, which the bug system is being compared to.
>
> Just about any publicly-accessible venue that displays user-generated
> content will either require some form of authentication, or be overrun to
> the point of uselessness by spambots.




Sean Cole
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