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The move to an external issue tracking system.

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Topic Starter
peppy
While we have made do so far with the forums as a method of tracking bugs, it is not really optimal. For a start, over 50% of the posts in the "Bug Reports" forum is noise for myself and other developers looking to solve problems which are not at the user's end. So I have decided to make the move to an external tracking system for bugs.

This Bug Reports forum will now be known as the support forum, and will accept any questions and problems experienced by users. I will be assigning people with access to the bug tracking system on an as-needed basis, and will be relying on a small team of reliable users (who can competently translate bad english into sensible bug reports, as well as test unknowns before submitting) to submit issues. Threads which need attention from the development team will be assigned a ticket, and with a bit of luck the team member that assigned the ticket can relate progress back to the forum.

If anyone believes they fit the criteria for reporting/translating issues to the new system, please post in this thread and I will grant access. I am testing out an online hosted solution for the time being, and this may not be the final choice but should do for testing the concept.

Also if you have any questions or concerns, please post them here.
Film11
I'm quite good at translating bad english (but not from foreign languages) most of the time. Not sure how much free time I have due to uni at the moment but I could fit it around some place I'm sure.

What's done about reports lacking in details? Would the 'translation team' ask for more details before assigning the thread a status? What about regular users? Can they contribute in existing threads at all or just create new ones?
Derekku
Sure, I wouldn't mind helping out. Also, I can usually make sense of bad English. :P
Topic Starter
peppy
It isn't all about bad English. I am looking for people to follow up reported issues, test to make sure they are replicable, and if so, fill in any missing details that will make it as clear as day how it can be replicated. If it is not replicable, more details would needed to be requested from the user to find out if it is a problem at their end, or something more complicated caused by certain conditions.

This isn't a light task, and I would recommend anyone offering help to at least have a bit of experience with reporting issues, testing, or an idea of what a bug consists of and how they are caused/resolved.

This article is a great read for those interested.
Derekku

peppy wrote:

It isn't all about bad English.

Derekku Chan wrote:

Also, I can usually make sense of bad English. :P
I'm in Engineering, so I know all about buggy software. :roll: I know the drill and don't mind the work, so I'll happily accept the responsibilities. ;)
Mystearica
I could help with this and also translating to Chinese. I've done a bit of this stuff (bug reporting/testing) on privately hosted Ragnarok Online servers, so it's not news to me. We also used a ticket system back there on a couple of servers as well so if it's any similar, it should be pretty straightforward.
Lesjuh
I'd like to help. I made some flash games and did a lot of testing/resolving. I'm also familiar with bad english btw lol.
Chaos Anime X
" Give the programmer some credit for basic intelligence: if the program really didn't work at all, they would probably have noticed. Since they haven't noticed, it must be working for them. Therefore, either you are doing something differently from them, or your environment is different from theirs. They need information; providing this information is the purpose of a bug report. More information is almost always better than less. "
Gemi
This is a good choice, I think, and should help you a lot. I might offer my assistance in the future, but currently I don't have enough free time on my hands to be of much use.
Cyclone
I'll help.
awp
Nice to see this thing rolling out.

Film11 wrote:

What's done about reports lacking in details?
This should never happen as this thread among many others clearly states the information required. Having said that, people are still going to make sans-detail reports. These people are only hurting the speed at which their tickets will be made, addressed, and resolved, since we will require more information before an intelligent ticket can be created from it.
Pasonia
As usual, I'll handle the Chinese side of the matters. If they need help, no fret, I can always translate.

I'll disseminate this piece of information there if needed. And since some of the #chinese regulars are out here helping, that'll be an added help.
Topic Starter
peppy
Just to make things easier for me, if you have said you are interested please PM (IRC pm is much preferred) me the following details:

First Name
Last Name
Username
Email

Real names will be used on the issue tracking system to keep a more professional feel, but if you have a problem with this feel free to make up an appropriate name.
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