[dokuwiki] New features and bug reports

From: "Joe Lapp" <joe.lapp@xxxxxxxxx>
To: dokuwiki@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Sun, 21 May 2006 08:49:26 -0500 (CDT)
I'm going to try to thoughtfully explain why I think this rule is a mistake:

"Do not report Bugs or feature requests here, use the bug tracker instead. To 
get a bug fixed it is important to have a single system were the state of the 
bug (or feature request) can be tracked."

I fully agree that bugs and new features need to be placed on a single 
manageable queue, and that that queue is the bug tracker.  I expect the bug 
tracker to be made more effective at this purpose by the presence of bug report 
and new feature forums, and users to be better served as well.  Reasons:

(1) Users will hang out on the forum, monitoring the forum and not the bug 
tracker; we ought to take advantage of this and allow users to serve as a first 
line of defense against bogus bug reports and "new features" that Dokuwiki can 
already do or that can be done by customization.   Otherwise developers are 
left to sift out wheat and chaff, when users would gladly have already done so.

(2) Users dealing with what they perceive as bugs or needs are first and 
foremost users in need of help, and more often than not, some other user is 
going to be able to provide that help without requirinng a bug fix or a new 
feature; without discussion of their perceived bug or new feature need, users 
are left in the dark and the forum is less helpful to them.

(3) Users who do their homework by first searching the bug tracker for their 
bug or feature are not deceived by the presence of a bug or feature that is 
likely to be closed (ignored) by the first developer to have a look at it.  
(Again, this makes life better for users.)

Here are some possible ways to accomplish what you have in mind:

(A) Make it clear somewhere (in the rules or in a sticky post in the 
appropriate forums) that all communication with developers regarding bugs and 
new feature requests must be done via the bug tracker, that the forums are a 
place for discussion and assistance.

(B) In the same place as (A), tell users to first search the bug tracker for 
their problem or feature request, before posting it to the forum for 
discussion.  Few users will do so, but this should help reduce the traffic on 
the forum by a bit.

(B) Suggest that users (rather than developers) first post their bug reports 
and new feature requests to the forum and NOT TO THE BUG TRACKER, so that both 
users and developers benefit from (1) and (2) above.

(C) Make it a moderator responsibility to keep an eye out for true bugs and 
thoughtful new features, and either have the moderator make an entry in the bug 
tracker, or have the moderator ask the appropriate person to make an entry 
(either privately or by posting to the forum).

I also suggest distinct forums for bug reports and new feature requests so that 
the remaining forums have a chance to become browsable knowledge bases; the bug 
report and feature forums are likely to get a lot of useless traffic and are 
more likely to grow linearly with time.  Discussing bugs and new features in 
other forums would clutter them and make it harder to find information by 
restricting a search to them.

... just some thoughts for you to munch on.

~joe
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[dokuwiki] New features and bug reports

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