Hi SD,
if i may i would like to question the rather freshly found “format” of Bug Megathreads. In my opinion i am in no position to tell you how to do your work, but … the usual “but” that follows … of course i have an opinion on your newly found way of handling bugstuff i wanted to share.
What made me thinking was the following post in the newest Megathread:
ZGToRRent’s question goes right at one of the painpoints this “structuring” has.
Please be so kind and reason a bit about the best answer to this question … and what this means for your “internal process” of transferring the “external bugstuff” into your “internal bugstuff” which you obviously have. (I’d suppose you are using one of the better known solution for tracking defects/issues/whatnots like jira/bugzilla?)
-
I really like the template given for having structure inside a single bug report! It is really nice and should be rewarded with a sticky post in itself making it more visible than inside a megathread.
-
I see the good intention of finding a pattern which helps time constrained people (devs) see interesting stuff without having to live in the (external) forums
-
I’d understand if the “named release” would be used as a value for the dropdown i am used to selecting some value from for the “prefix” of this post (e.g.: gameplay/hud/level specific/aimee
-
Sadly i, too, see that sticking Bugs “into” named releases Megathreads clutters and discourages functions a forum was made for. See, you are having these “threads” to be able to correspond about topics. A bug is a topic, not a post. If - concerning a specific bug - there is stuff to talk about you only have the chance to write another post in a thread concerning not only this topic but a whole bunch of topics. It is like creating a forum in a forum. Only with less structure.
-
Also ZGToRRent’s question still stands: If a bug was originally mentioned in one megathread and a new megathread supersedes the former … shall one do your work of keeping track of bugs and “copy” it into the new megathread? Logically creating this copy would be a good thing imo. But to me that feels wrong. The whole concept of having this kind of “non-threading” feels wrong to me.
If i may, i would suggest that you assign someone to the “forumbuginator” position. This person then scours the forums for things in which the players did your job of not only testing your product but also informing you about it. When the forumbuginator finds something interesting it creates/finds some item on your internal bug-/issuetracker AND edits the title of the bugthread to include ONLY the issue-number in [] so that WE (the kind players) see that you have put an eye on this stuff. If it is not to be decided yet how to handle it you can edit the thread-title to include for example [TBD] … or if you already know it will not result in a bug/change the thread-title could be edited to include [NOBUG]. If editing other ppl posts is not your cup’o tea you could of course also answer inside a bug thread with these Tags.
If it is possible, could you please be so kind and explain a bit about the pro’s and con’s about your chosen Concept of “bug megathreads”
Nevertheless … Have a fabulous live! \o/
H