               Tennant: Digital Libraries
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Reporting Problems As If You Want Them FixedNovember 9, 2007 In preparing for a talk I titled "Library Software Manifesto" (more to come on that one) that I presented at the 2007 CODI Conference yesterday I realized just how little advice there seems to be for civilians on how to report software bugs.A Google search tends to pull up advice that's platform-specific, too wordy and condescending, too condescending and wordy, or is for software developers. There seems to be precious little in the way of advice and assistance for the vast majority who actually report software problems -- the actual users of these applications. The Mozilla Development Center has some of the best (and briefest) advice in its principles section:
The first step to solving any problem is to describe it accurately at sufficient detail that someone who wasn't there with you can understand it and hopefully even replicate it. Reporting bugs thoroughly and accurately will get them fixed faster than just about anything else that is in your control. Posted by Roy Tennant on November 9, 2007 | Comments (3) Industries: News & Features
November 10, 2007
In response to: Reporting Problems As If You Want Them Fixed Peter Murray commented: Good call, Roy! This suite of suggestions is definitely a keeper.
November 12, 2007
In response to: Reporting Problems As If You Want Them Fixed Daniel Kahn Gillmor commented: Hi Roy-- This is good advice, thanks for putting it out there. However, your "best (and briefest) advice" link seems to point to the same URL as your "too wordy and condescending" link. Can you fix that? i'd like to read the original!
November 12, 2007
In response to: Reporting Problems As If You Want Them Fixed Roy Tennant commented: Daniel, thanks for reporting this error -- it's fixed now.
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