Forums » Suggestions
Bug report states
The bug report forum is a bit tedious insofar as it doesn't allow tracking bug report states, in particular it is impossible to know which bugs have already been fixed (some have dev responses to that effect, some don't), which are still under review, which have been rejected, which need more information, etc. I currently have a considerable number of bug report threads with as of yet unfixed bugs that remain without a (dev) response and I am unsure whether I need to bump them or whether they have been seen and transcribed to an internal issue tracking system or silently been rejected.
I suggest threads in the bug report forum get tags visible in the forum index that can be added via buttons. The thread creator can only close the report (because either they realize it was no bug at all or because it has been fixed in the meantime) and devs (and maybe moderators) can also tag it as "not a bug", "response required", "fixed" and "under review" and whatever else you can think of.
I do not know how you handle bugs internally but the above should also make working with the forums easier for you. Also because these forums have unfortunately no notifications so all we can do is look at the index once in a while to see if anything changed.
I suggest threads in the bug report forum get tags visible in the forum index that can be added via buttons. The thread creator can only close the report (because either they realize it was no bug at all or because it has been fixed in the meantime) and devs (and maybe moderators) can also tag it as "not a bug", "response required", "fixed" and "under review" and whatever else you can think of.
I do not know how you handle bugs internally but the above should also make working with the forums easier for you. Also because these forums have unfortunately no notifications so all we can do is look at the index once in a while to see if anything changed.
I understand where you're coming from, and all things being equal, I'd prefer to have better communication via utility like you describe. But, I also don't expect it to be available in the near future, because developing that isn't going to be a very high priority for our limited resources.
- Generally speaking, we respond on Bugs (posting on the given thread) when they're fixed.
- Generally speaking, we also respond on Bugs if it isn't a Bug, or we won't be fixing it.
- Most non-responded Bugs are simply still in-process, and we don't have anything to add yet: We have enough information to look into it, but haven't had a chance yet.
- Often, this is because "related development" tends to be prioritized together, to optimize on usage of time. So, if we're planning some related changes to an area of code (say, UI), non-critical bugs that relate to the same content will be deferred until we do that next project.
- Similarly, if a Bug is effectively going to be removed by the launch of a major change in the imminent future (like, a redux of the UI), that may not get a lot of priority time either.
- You can certainly bump off-front-page Bugs that are a really active concern for you. But, one should not assume that a lack of activity means that we've forgotten.
- Beyond this, keep in mind that what "Seems Easy" to any given external person, regardless of an individual's development experience, is not necessarily going to be true for VO. For example, architecturally, some changes will require a binary update, which may then necessitate some orthogonal development, because a platform-provider "suddenly" has a new API requirement for updates, or similar orthogonal issue. So, we can't change X, without also updating Y and Z, and we don't have the time for all three right now.
- By the same token, "Seems Important" is pretty relative as well. We've had significant (and unrelated), production-service outages every week for the last few weeks. Most of them have not been publicly visible, because of redundancies or other factors, but each time there's an internal process of post-mortem, trying to address or mitigate what went wrong or improve the architecture so that never happens again, so on and so forth. So, simply, some UI bugs are a pretty low priority by comparison, and this kind of thing can drag on for months.
So, anyway, while I know it's sub-optimal, I'd ask for some patience in the meantime, and simply base your assumptions on the first couple of points here.. we generally respond if it's a FIXED or WONTFIX scenario, or if we need more information. And if it's really a grinding concern for you, you can bump it, and if necessary we'll say something like "No, this is not a priority, sorry." Or, we'll re-assess the priority if the bug has impact beyond the scope of what we realized.
I hope that helps..
- Generally speaking, we respond on Bugs (posting on the given thread) when they're fixed.
- Generally speaking, we also respond on Bugs if it isn't a Bug, or we won't be fixing it.
- Most non-responded Bugs are simply still in-process, and we don't have anything to add yet: We have enough information to look into it, but haven't had a chance yet.
- Often, this is because "related development" tends to be prioritized together, to optimize on usage of time. So, if we're planning some related changes to an area of code (say, UI), non-critical bugs that relate to the same content will be deferred until we do that next project.
- Similarly, if a Bug is effectively going to be removed by the launch of a major change in the imminent future (like, a redux of the UI), that may not get a lot of priority time either.
- You can certainly bump off-front-page Bugs that are a really active concern for you. But, one should not assume that a lack of activity means that we've forgotten.
- Beyond this, keep in mind that what "Seems Easy" to any given external person, regardless of an individual's development experience, is not necessarily going to be true for VO. For example, architecturally, some changes will require a binary update, which may then necessitate some orthogonal development, because a platform-provider "suddenly" has a new API requirement for updates, or similar orthogonal issue. So, we can't change X, without also updating Y and Z, and we don't have the time for all three right now.
- By the same token, "Seems Important" is pretty relative as well. We've had significant (and unrelated), production-service outages every week for the last few weeks. Most of them have not been publicly visible, because of redundancies or other factors, but each time there's an internal process of post-mortem, trying to address or mitigate what went wrong or improve the architecture so that never happens again, so on and so forth. So, simply, some UI bugs are a pretty low priority by comparison, and this kind of thing can drag on for months.
So, anyway, while I know it's sub-optimal, I'd ask for some patience in the meantime, and simply base your assumptions on the first couple of points here.. we generally respond if it's a FIXED or WONTFIX scenario, or if we need more information. And if it's really a grinding concern for you, you can bump it, and if necessary we'll say something like "No, this is not a priority, sorry." Or, we'll re-assess the priority if the bug has impact beyond the scope of what we realized.
I hope that helps..
> - Beyond this, keep in mind that what "Seems Easy" [...]
> - By the same token, "Seems Important" [...]
I fully understand all that. I know this wasn't directed only at me but I'll still clarify that my post wasn't about the speed of responses or fixes at all. The idea to bump one was just to prevent it from getting lost. As long as you're telling me that e.g. my open bug report on currently on page 3 of the bug reports forum will still be found and handled by you guys at some point in time then I'm perfectly fine with it.
> - By the same token, "Seems Important" [...]
I fully understand all that. I know this wasn't directed only at me but I'll still clarify that my post wasn't about the speed of responses or fixes at all. The idea to bump one was just to prevent it from getting lost. As long as you're telling me that e.g. my open bug report on currently on page 3 of the bug reports forum will still be found and handled by you guys at some point in time then I'm perfectly fine with it.
I fully understand all that. I know this wasn't directed only at me but I'll still clarify that my post wasn't about the speed of responses or fixes at all.
Yup, understood. And yes, I have to respond to "The Silent Readers" as well as the active post.
As long as you're telling me that e.g. my open bug report on currently on page 3 of the bug reports forum will still be found and handled by you guys at some point in time then I'm perfectly fine with it.
Yup, I go back through them periodically.
But, again, I am human, so if something seems to have been missed, or has an increased player-priority due to newer factors emerging, it's fine to bump stuff that's fallen off the front page.
Yup, understood. And yes, I have to respond to "The Silent Readers" as well as the active post.
As long as you're telling me that e.g. my open bug report on currently on page 3 of the bug reports forum will still be found and handled by you guys at some point in time then I'm perfectly fine with it.
Yup, I go back through them periodically.
But, again, I am human, so if something seems to have been missed, or has an increased player-priority due to newer factors emerging, it's fine to bump stuff that's fallen off the front page.