brentoboy
April 29th, 2006, 02:12 AM
I have a few observations, followd by a suggestion.
I have no idea how things actually work in this area, so dont be offended if I am way out in left field on this issue.
here is the observation:
people post stuff on these forums. they post bugs, precieved bugs, questions, problems, worries, excitement--everything.
these forums are the pulse of ubuntu. If you put your finger on these threads, then you know the exact current status of the ubuntu project.
--
now, for good reasons, the ubuntu designers and developers dont waste hours wading though all the stuff--most of it is crap anyway. I write software for a living, and I dont have time to wade through "reported" bugs and concerns. Our tech support guys dont even wade through it all, they just answer questions until people are working again, and then move on.
but, I can see that many many bugs get reported here by people asking for help, and I am sure that the bugs never get reported. It is like editing the wiki, people are affraid to do something as official as report a bug--they dont even know if it is a bug, reporting a bug means second guessing the developers--and to noobs, there is no way in their mind that the developers were wrong. so the bug goes unreported.
I am a dapper user, but I dont report bugs. I assume there are hundreds of people reporting the same bugs--but I am startingto thing I am wrong, some of my bugs are noticed by hundreds, but not reportd by any.
---
now, ubuntu sets out to be the best desktop distro.
and, why would anyone do something like create ubuntu unless they wanted to be the best.
And I can see a need that probably isnt being filled.
there is a need for people who know what they are doing to look through the forums, search for enhancement requests, bug reports, and other things that sould be reported the right way, and they need to do the sort of research needed to make it easy to have the developers and designers get a flood of *qualified* bug reports and ideas.
ubuntu needs a handful of old-school users who take it upon themselves to figure out if something is a real problem, and then submit a bug for the n00b who wont do it themselves.
--
the problem is that the old school guys dont even see some of the problems anymore, for instance, my nvidia card had issues when I installed breezy. I swaped in for vesa drivers until I got the proprietary drivers in place, and never even realized that there was a serious problem. A few other people on the forums reported the same "hang" I saw (just after the drums), I talked them through it. life is good--did anyone ever report it? probably not for a month or two after I noticed it (I noticed it the day the first beta breezy cd was out)
these forums are not read by developers looking for work to do, the ubuntu devs are not out of things to do with so much time on their hands that they have to go fishing for more.
newbies will never report things properly, and they are the ones that notice the most things that are a problem.
newbies do post thier problems
someone should sift through those problems, and report the real ones for the newbies (assume everyone is a newbie)
--
anyway there is my rant. these forums are the pulse of the project. if no one is using them for bug reporting and enhancement requests, then a lot of valueable stuff is being missed.
I have no idea how things actually work in this area, so dont be offended if I am way out in left field on this issue.
here is the observation:
people post stuff on these forums. they post bugs, precieved bugs, questions, problems, worries, excitement--everything.
these forums are the pulse of ubuntu. If you put your finger on these threads, then you know the exact current status of the ubuntu project.
--
now, for good reasons, the ubuntu designers and developers dont waste hours wading though all the stuff--most of it is crap anyway. I write software for a living, and I dont have time to wade through "reported" bugs and concerns. Our tech support guys dont even wade through it all, they just answer questions until people are working again, and then move on.
but, I can see that many many bugs get reported here by people asking for help, and I am sure that the bugs never get reported. It is like editing the wiki, people are affraid to do something as official as report a bug--they dont even know if it is a bug, reporting a bug means second guessing the developers--and to noobs, there is no way in their mind that the developers were wrong. so the bug goes unreported.
I am a dapper user, but I dont report bugs. I assume there are hundreds of people reporting the same bugs--but I am startingto thing I am wrong, some of my bugs are noticed by hundreds, but not reportd by any.
---
now, ubuntu sets out to be the best desktop distro.
and, why would anyone do something like create ubuntu unless they wanted to be the best.
And I can see a need that probably isnt being filled.
there is a need for people who know what they are doing to look through the forums, search for enhancement requests, bug reports, and other things that sould be reported the right way, and they need to do the sort of research needed to make it easy to have the developers and designers get a flood of *qualified* bug reports and ideas.
ubuntu needs a handful of old-school users who take it upon themselves to figure out if something is a real problem, and then submit a bug for the n00b who wont do it themselves.
--
the problem is that the old school guys dont even see some of the problems anymore, for instance, my nvidia card had issues when I installed breezy. I swaped in for vesa drivers until I got the proprietary drivers in place, and never even realized that there was a serious problem. A few other people on the forums reported the same "hang" I saw (just after the drums), I talked them through it. life is good--did anyone ever report it? probably not for a month or two after I noticed it (I noticed it the day the first beta breezy cd was out)
these forums are not read by developers looking for work to do, the ubuntu devs are not out of things to do with so much time on their hands that they have to go fishing for more.
newbies will never report things properly, and they are the ones that notice the most things that are a problem.
newbies do post thier problems
someone should sift through those problems, and report the real ones for the newbies (assume everyone is a newbie)
--
anyway there is my rant. these forums are the pulse of the project. if no one is using them for bug reporting and enhancement requests, then a lot of valueable stuff is being missed.