Re: [tdf-discuss] FreeDesktop Bugzilla

----- Original Message ----

> From: Thorsten Behrens <thb@documentfoundation.org>
> Christoph Noack wrote:
> > There may be different and good  reasons for users to participate in bug
> > reporting - but the best  (non-automated) system won't be able to collect
> > that much information in  a quality, that developers may simply start to
> > work on most of the  issues. From what I've seen so far, only the
> > individual discussions on  mailing lists or forums led to high-quality
> > bug reports right from the  start. And this is why I think, the community
> > members on the mailing  lists are incredibly helpful (maybe even
> > essential) for (more) efficient  development.
> Maybe with the exception of crashes - I'd at least give  that a try
> (usually backtrace, just-loaded document, and system details  gets
> you a long way). Apart from that, then, I guess  that
> EasyBugtrackingWizard should be considered one of the  many
> opportunities to turn users into participating community members
> (and  designed with that goal in mind).

Perhaps such a wizard should have a dual interface:
1) Available on-line, searchable, etc. as part of the bug tracking tool.
2) Enable users to get to it also through a specific dialog in LO - under Help.

I would be willing to bet that most users don't pay attention to bugs mostly
because they have to go somewhere else to file them. It's a hassle.
Make something in LO that enables the user to track what they report,
so they can see that something was actually done, etc; perhaps
even a notifier (like the update notifier) saying "bug X that you submitted has 
been updated",
which could then either launch a browser or bring up a dialog to show the 
changes.

In other words, make it easy for users to participate beyond the initial report 
too.
Most won't want to use a separate system/software/website to do so.

And if the bug is a big issue to them, they may very well go find another piece 
of
software than file an issue and track it. Resolving that though, is a cultural 
thing
left over from proprietary software since most proprietary software companies
won't pay attention to software bugs unless the customer has a service contract
or pays lots of money to get it resolved. Make the user feel their issues are 
being
resolved and you'll get a lot better loyalty as well - that a community thing 
but it
starts with bug tracking - bugs, RFE, etc all inclusive.

Ben


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