Re: Bug#4164: Ferret extended description has blank lines
Dale Scheetz writes ("Re: Bug#4164: Ferret extended description has blank lines "):
...
> Objections to reporting something as a bug are not founded on this
> concept. No one feels personaly "put down" by a bug report. Those of us
> who object to "trivial" bug reports are more concerned about the
> distribution's public perception. The new user is apt to see a "security"
> bug and a "blanks in description" bug as having equal weight. Large
> numbers of outstanding bugs also leave new users feeling uncertain.
The bug tracking system is for _our_ _internal_ use. I couldn't care
less if the some idiotic users think that two hundred `missing
description' bug reports are vitally important.
We must not allow bugs to go unreported because they'd end up on the
bug list and so be publicly visible. That's absurd.
...
> No, the trivial way to reach maintainers is to start with debian-user.
No, because debian-user is a high-traffic mailing list.
The best way to report a trivial problem in package foo is to mail
To: maintonly@bugs.debian.org
Subject: ...
Package: foo
> Case in point:
> Recently a user reported smtp problems with pine. This problem turned out
> to be a configuration issue, unrelated to any functional problems with the
> pine software. By reporting the "bug" on debian-user first, a non-bug bug
> report was avoided.
This is a different matter. Encouraging people to discuss things that
might or might not be bugs is fine.
Discouraging people from reporting things that definitely are bugs is
not fine.
Ian.
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