Section on Validating abnormal behavior

[ccoudsi]

Is there a procedure in place to verify abnormal behavior that users find with their installations, beside posting the issue on the forum, because the more I use my 810 installation the more issues I find, I posted few issues, and I asked people for help to reproduce it to see if it can be duplicated on their installations, and there was no answer!!!

So, if there is no system in place, maybe we can create a special area on the forum called “Validating abnormal behavior for 8.10”, and under that section we’ll have sub sections to cover all major LinuxMCE functions.   

Then people can post their abnormal issues they find in this section , so it can be verified by people who volunteered to help in the testing area, if  the issue can be duplicated, then it will be entered in the “Trac system” by original user or the volunteer, otherwise the original user will post back the topic on the regular forum to get support from other users, and the volunteer will mark the original topic in the “Validating abnormal behavior for 8.10” section as “False Alarm”. This way any test volunteer can help the developers by going to this section, and help in validating the issues of his/her expertise or capabilities, instead reading all topics and see who need help in duplicating the issues.

This is just a suggestion, to make LMCE shine some more, and become the only choice.

Thanks.

[colinjones]

ccoudsi

The "users" and "installation issues" forums are the correct places. Those people that are likely the help out (like myself) typically scan all forums for new posts irrespective of the forum anyway. Its the nature of forums that sometimes posts do not get responded to for various reasons. Point me to the thread in question, and I will see if I can make any suggestions that will help gain the attention of someone. Sometimes it is a matter as simple as wording the subject like, or coordinating the thoughts within the body text more effectively....

[ccoudsi]

Colin,
Here's 2 examples:
http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7852.msg58422#msg58422
http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7761.msg58284#msg58284

The issue here, there is few developpers, and a lot of people willing to help in other areas like testing for example, which is very important for the developpers, because this system is so huge you can not verify all issues on one or few setups.
That's why I was suggesting to put a system in place for volunteers testers, to make it easy for them to help out.
On the long run will benefit everyone, and reduce duplicate topics on the forum.

[colinjones]

In both instances you've posted into an existing thread. Both were related, but not directly the initial poster's subject.

That's fine but 2 points - 1) if not the original poster's question, you are to some extent hijacking that thread, and so these posts will sometimes get overlooked when others are responding to the original poster. 2) when a thread has started, most will click into the thread early on, determine whether it is something they want to follow or contribute to, and if not, they will rarely return to the thread... so you loose a lot of the audience you want.

If the initial posting doesn't attract responses, I would suggest starting your own thread - and very carefully crafting the subject like to be as clear as possible about what the thread is covering... this is how you attract people even to start reading your thread. Avoid "please help!" and equivalents, it does nothing and waste valuable thread subject space which can be used for piquing people's interest. If the original thread was very relevant, post a link to it in your new thread for background. And don't ramble, neatly layout the issue and details as concisely as possible.

[ccoudsi]

Colin,
Thanks, I will follow your instructions.