File a bug report! By all means, file a bug report!

Hey ho! There are links next to most of the bug fields that take you to descriptions, but they're not particularly obvious, and the descriptions aren't always super friendly (particularly in the looks department, some diagrams wouldn't be remise).

I'd really like to revise not only the submission form for people without canconfirm, but also the bug format itself (a large number of those fields are completely non-relevant to users and just serve to contribute to the confusion).

Probably in the spirit of a lazy/busy user who can't be bothered to read through this whole thread and likewise careful search through a list of bug reports I'd gonna add my suggestion which has probably already been made before.

When I wanted to post a question on the forum I did a search to see if it was already addressed and didn't see anything relevant (I've forgotten what the question was about). When I actually was gonna post the question the forum prompted me that there are several related threads (gathering the necessary information off my post I guess) and in fact one of them already answered my question. So, sadly, the automated search based off my post was more clever than my own and avoided an unnecessary thread.

I think the same engine running on the bug-tracker would go a long way to solving the problem and wouldn't even require users to be clever enough to pre-vet their bugs. I'm not familiar with the forum software or bugzilla but maybe some component from here could be reused there.

Oh yes, I knew they were there, but unless you go exploring you aren't going to find them - especially if you believe that you already know what, say, 'fixed' means. I meant to copy the relevant descriprions onto the page with the bug report.

Is the new version of bugzilla skinnable? If so, maybe have two skins available, a 'newbie' skin with that sort of information, nice big vote button and big link to a discussion thread. I would also consider taking out the various contact and assigned addresses from this skin. Then also have an 'old-hand' skin which is pretty much the normal bugzilla interface and have this user-selectable. The 'point-n-moan' class of user that is arguably causing the current bugzilla overload are unlikely to bother changing skin (or even find the setting).

Here come the furry paws.

I like the direction this has taken.

I should say I loved the first post, and found it hysterically funny. Though I admit it was very British humour. That's Humour with a 'u'. I also thought, being Brit humour, it was actually quite gentle with the bugsquad. I read it as in some part maing the point that they are desperately overworked. Indeed, it made me feel more tolerant towards their brusque responses. But you probably have to be born and raised on Brit humour to get that sense from it.

The idea of a Bugzuki (or is that Buggy-doo?) little brother for Bugzilla is extremely appealing to me. Something that connected a comments type interface (like talk) with the serious bug-file might be enormously useful all round. New users could post their 'bugs', many of which prove either not to be bugs or to be more complex than the initial file. And others could chime in with 'Actually if you do it this way, it works' or 'That only happens if you do this' or even 'Yes we know. There's already a file'. Which would take a lot of weight off the bugsquad. And should mean that bugs are a bit more refined before they reach the monster himself. Then triagers could skim the thread only if they need further information. Or the Bugzuki mod could point up particularly useful comments for the triagers and filter out the repeats, rants and other not-bug stuff.

And Finnish jokes deemed 'unsuitable for the forum'? You know where my PM box is.

Well, the way you'd do it is based on the user's permissions level. canconfirm users get the full form, anybody else gets a reduced one.

That's a good way of doing it. There's plenty more controls on a typical bugzilla page than I need to be playing with. Repeatedly getting noddy definitions of statuses and stuff would irritate me - but that's precisely what greasemonkey is there to fix

Maybe above the comment box should be some text like "Please only comment if you have something technically useful to add. If you experience this bug too, then please vote for it" (with "vote for it" linked).

I think it would also be useful to relax the limit of 20 bug votes per person per section.

We've always tried to teach our users that, when filing a bug, ALWAYS ALWAYS do your homework beforehand. That's one of the things that used to totally piss off my helpdesk guys. "You're coming to me with this problem, and yet the complete answer is in the FAQ!? What's wrong with this picture!?" It's pretty bad when you have a complete, detailed FAQ that took weeks to build, and yet is ignored by 90% of the staff.

Most common line by helpdesk staff. "RTFM the FAQ, page 156!" of which the most common reply to that is, "I know that. Can you do it for me instead?" It brings to mind those "Fuuuuuuuu" comics. lol. Our helpdesk always hated me when I came to them, but it was for a different reason. I *DID* do my homework, and by the time I brought it to them, the problem was nigh on unsolvable. lol. My little problems tended to turn into five hour marathons of futility. ^_^;; But, they always appreciated the fact that I did all my footwork before coming to them, thus eliminating all simple or easily solvable problems myself. That just left the real wingdingers for them.