Suggestion: Sticky 'bug report' topics everywhere

[royalbox]

Sticky 'bug report' topics everywhere with a link to where to post them for people like me who are in the middle of using code::blocks and find something annoying I'd like to report.

A few times now I've stopped what I'm doing, gone to the forum, tried to find the words 'bug report' at the top of the forum catagories, didn't see it, couldn't be bothered to try and find it and went back to what I'm was doing.

This means less bug reports and probably more topics started about bugs instead.

I'd like to think I'm being helpful for mentioning this, though I expect I'll get someone pointing out where the link is with some attached sarcasm along the lines of "how big do you need the link to be?".

[thomas]

There's a link on the main site (left), and there was a sticky topic with a link in the SVN forum, too (I can't find it now, it seems to have been lost when the forums were merged a few weeks ago).

I don't see it as a bad thing if people start a thread about a bug which they have found (or which they believe to have found). Actually, that's what they're supposed to do first.

Many problems can be solved beforehand (either they're due to wrong usage or the actual bug has been fixed long, long ago), and in the other cases, the flow of information (and thus the response time) is a lot better. Also, the involvement of the community is advantageous, as many people who make valuable contributions read the forums daily, but they don't necessarily screen the bug reports.
The most important prerequisite for that scheme to work is that you provide the necessary information in the correct place.

Contrarily, we have the problem that many people post a bug report (or problem) in some unlikely place, such as the nightly builds forum or some unrelated thread. Or sometimes, they leave a bug report with insufficient data on BerliOS and poof they're gone and never seen again. They nevertheless expect something to happen, of course.
It can be quite frustrating to search through such a mess on a regular base.

So in one word: Let them start topics, it is a good thing

[royalbox]

@thomas
I'm sure I've read several times replies to bug reports along the lines of "bug reports should be posted at such and such a place".

Anyway, that's good. I'll post any bug reports here and refer to your reply if anyone complains.
Many thanks.

[royalbox]

Would you believe it, I just found the bug report topic at the top of the troubleshooting page. I clicked on the provided link and it asked for my login details. I don't want to join something just to browse for known bugs, and possibly submit one, so I left.

I also saw the READ BEFORE POSTING thread http://forums.codeblocks.org/index.php?topic=246.0 which started off like this:

* This is _NOT_ a bug report forum. Bugs should be reported at sourceforge (just make sure you browse the bug reports there so you won't post a duped bug)

I'll take a chance and start a new topic I think.

[thomas]

I also saw the READ BEFORE POSTING thread

Yes, the "Help" forum is indeed not intended for bug reporting That sticky is quite old, too, as can be seen. It still talks of Sourceforge... [edits link]

We did have a forum dedicated to the SVN development version (which is what most people use). It somehow got incorporated into the "Development" forum when the boards were reorganised.  :?
Humm... we might have to think over this again, make everything a bit more obvious.

Although the description still says "only for developers", that would be a good place for reporting a bug (if you are positive that it is a bug, not wrong usage). Usually, when someone posts a problem in there, it takes only a short time until someone works on it. Most bugs in history have been fixed the same day or the next day

I clicked on the provided link and it asked for my login details. I don't want to join something just to browse for known bugs, and possibly submit one, so I left.

Yes, we discussed that when moving from Sourceforge to BerliOS. There is no possibility to enable anonymous posting at BerliOS. At first sight, this seemed to us like dealbreaker, but then we eventually figured that it might actually be a good feature.

And indeed, this proved right. The ratio of "good" reports versus "rubbish" reports is a lot better at BerliOS than it was at Sourceforge. We do get significantly less reports (only about 1/4 as many), but the quality is a lot better.
It is only fair that a user has to spend 3 minutes registering, since the developers probably spend a lot more time than that on the request, too. People who have gone through registering, are also more willing to spend time on providing a good, usable bug description (which is essential for us to be able to fix anything).
I agree, it may seem to you as an unnecessary annoyance, but it is a quite effective measure to  filter out the "dammit, nufink worx, tis sux" people (who don't provide any usable information, anyway).
Thus, we make more efficient use of our time (which is a limited resource). That's not only good for us, but good for everybody

[squizzz]

Maybe it would be good idea to change development related links (Report Bugs, Submit Patch, Feature Request)  on the main page so they point here: 
Report Bugs
Submit Patch
Feature Request

rather than here:
Report Bugs
Submit Patch
Feature Request

I guess that would save some confusion.