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> Don’t grovel, but also acknowledge that the only compensation the reader of the report is likely to get is in the form of these extremely rare moments of grat
by cxr 6y ago
> Don’t grovel, but also acknowledge that the only compensation the reader of the report is likely to get is in the form of these extremely rare moments of gratitude.
As I write elsewhere, this is a fundamentally flawed mindset. A high quality bug report is the reader's compensation. It's a goddamned gift. The presumption that the reporter is a leech and the recipient is the one being leeched is exactly what's wrong in the culture.
Consider this: You post your project. I'm not in the target demographic. But because I come from the culture epitomized in Shirky's Here Comes Everybody, and not the fucked up culture of the GitHub generation, where 999 times out of 10 you only reach out to someone because you're trying to get something from them, I decide take the time and give it a look anyway. Going into this, I already have nothing to gain. So I do look at it, and I spot a bug. I file a bug report with steps to reproduce. This is a contribution to the project, its maintainer, and whoever uses it. Do something with it, or don't. But no matter how you respond, I will get nothing out of it. To flip things around in a Costanza-like attempt to grab the upper hand is... anti-social.
This isn't to say that leeches don't exist. But muggers also exist. And yet, the fact that muggers exist is not a good reason to go around socking people in the mouth when they approach you and start speaking.
- aaronbrethorst 6y agoOK, I'll say it differently, don't be an asshole. Don't be an asshole submitting a high quality bug report. Don't be an asshole submitting a low quality bug report. Just don't be an asshole.
- hvis 6y ago> But no matter how you respond, I will get nothing out of it. Well, you get a problem solved. One that was probably bothering you or stopping you from doing some work. Otherwise I agree, though. Gratitude is nice, but a well-formulated and described bug reports are the best. (PRs are a mixed bag, because it's rare to have a full match with the current design).
- cxr 6y ago> Well, you get a problem solved. One that was probably bothering you or stopping you from doing some work. You ignored the entire premise. Weird, because I repeated it multiple times. (And I don't understand how the comment can even make any sense unless you get the premise.) To be clear: the scenario outlined above is one where I'm filing a bug report against a software project that I do not use and do not ever intend to use. There's no way a bug in the software can be showstopper for me if the software in question has no effect on the success or failure of whatever show I'm running.
- aaronbrethorst 6y agoTo be clear: the scenario outlined above is one where I'm filing a bug report against a software project that I do not use and do not ever intend to use. I think your premise is specious. Who files detailed bug reports on a piece of software that they have never and will never use? What is the scenario where someone would bother doing this? What is the scenario where they even have the knowledge to file this detailed bug report since they lack any context on the software in question?
- cxr 6y agoI already answered this, but maybe you missed it: https://hyp.is/cS034gX1EeutOzMchaO06A/news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24673839 https://hyp.is/cS034gX1EeutOzMchaO06A/news.ycombinator.com/i... That you're here having trouble grappling with the suggestion that such a scenario is even plausible is evidence of the cynical depths we've reached. Even in the case that you're unable to understand why, does the "why" really matter? It happens, and that's what matters.
- aaronbrethorst 6y agoThat seems unnecessarily rude. Also, you still haven’t offered up a plausible scenario of why you would magnanimously look at my OSS project that you have no intention of ever using, find a bug, and submit a bug report, exhortations of circa 2008 Clay Shirky notwithstanding.