Bugzilla comments - appropriate?

[jeshyr]

I have been poking around at bug 3893 because it looked really simple, but in doing so I realised that it needs skills I don't have (i.e.: being able to use a graphics editor!) so I can't complete it. But it did take a fair bit of poking around to discover that the file that needs to be edited seems to be $LJHOME/htdocs/stc/fck/editor/plugins/livejournal/ljuser.gif.

I'm wondering if I should toss a comment on the bug in bugzilla saying "Hey I think that this is the file that needs editing" or whether I should just leave it alone.

The thing that makes me most nervous about putting things on Bugzilla is every time I do something it shows me this huge list of email addresses and says it's notified them all. I don't want to interrupt important hacking just to make a comment about something. I especially don'tt want to do that when my comment might be (a) wrong, (b) irrelevant, or (c) totally obvious and therefore redundant to anybody else who's likely to try and hack at it!

Posting to communities or IRC or IM is heaps easier because I know that's not going to totally spam people and it'll just be easily ignored by anybody who isn't interested. Can somebody point me in the right direction?

I hate that I'm so overawed and intimidated by this hacking stuff - I know both denise and fu and a bunch of other coders have reassured me that I don't need to be but for some reason it's this huge enormous psychological hurdle where I am feeling almost paralysed with terror :(

Comments

[denise]

If you find something like that, please make a comment! Think of it this way: your comment might be the one thing that prompts the next person to open the bug to think "Oh, now that I know where to look, I bet I could do this!" DW development is totally a cooperative effort; I can't count the number of times I looked at a bug, had no earthly clue where to start with it, and then someone came along and left a comment like the kind you describe and it made lightbulbs go *ping*.

For the list of email addresses you see after submitting something -- those are people who want to get all of the Bugzilla email, and they have specifically chosen to subscribe to all changes (or subscribe to someone who does subscribe to all changes). And maybe one of them will see your comment and think, oh, that's right, I forgot about that bug! and go code it right then and there.

Nobody's on that CC list by accident, and everyone who's on it chose to be on it knowing full well how many emails they were likely to get in a day. I highly, highly doubt that anybody is subscribed to that option without some kind of mail filtering. (Mine goes straight to a "Bugzilla" folder, not directly to my inbox.) Don't worry about interrupting, really. Nobody who's on the CC list minds; they want to see your comments.

PS: looking at the specifics, I happen to think you're totally right about what file needs to be swapped out/changed. And even if you aren't, it's still a very likely and reasonable guess, and nobody's going to think you're an idiot or something if you're wrong. Remember, every single one of us started out doing the exact same baby steps at some point. (Many of us on this project, in fact.)

And I know you know this, from being a project leader for so long, but still, it's worth reiterating: Anybody who tries to make somebody feel like an idiot for doing something wrong -- especially when it's a reasonable mistake, but really, even if it were something like, somebody new to development firmly insists the site is made of green cheese or something -- is not upholding the principles of the DW community, and believe me, if I see that happening from anybody, I will Have Words with them. That shit is not okay. We're all here to grow and learn together, and to improve Dreamwidth either incrementally or by leaps and bounds, and nobody is so good or so experienced as to be beyond reproach.

We hold everyone on any DW volunteer team to the principles of the Diversity Statement, especially the part about welcome. Which is not to say that somebody can't critique someone else's work -- but it had damn well better be constructive, helpful, encouraging feedback and not "this patch sucks, you are stupid for submitting it". (Thankfully, we have never had an incident like that, and I hope like hell we never will.)

[jeshyr]

*hugs* Thank you. When I read this bit:

Anybody who tries to make somebody feel like an idiot for doing something wrong -- especially when it's a reasonable mistake, but really, even if it were something like, somebody new to development firmly insists the site is made of green cheese or something -- is not upholding the principles of the DW community, and believe me, if I see that happening from anybody, I will Have Words with them.

I realised that's a very good description oqf what I'm doing to myself. So I gotta treat myself better ... I'm working on that!

[denise]

It's always hardest to be kind to yourself, isn't it? I've tried to get Sarah to measure herself by that measure, too: would you be upset with somebody else doing that thing? No? Then don't be upset with yourself for it!

[azurelunatic]

"A fair bit of poking around" is still work that you put into it, and you got a file name out of it. Even if it's not the right file name, a comment saying "I did some poking around and I think this is the file that needs to be edited", and the file, will let a more experienced dev take a look at it, and maybe confirm that yes, that's the very file -- or if it's not the file, say that no it isn't, and maybe give some indication of a better path.

When I'm on the list, consider that I am subscribed to all comments to all entries in dw_suggestions for a moment. ;) (Also in capslock_dreamwidth, but that's a little less dev-ilicious.)

[cesy]

You're not the only one subscribed to all comments in all entries in dw_suggestions, either.

[matgb]

I am subscribed to all comments to all entries in dw_suggestions for a moment

There are many of us from the way comments flow in at times.

And yeah, I'm subbed to a few Bugzilla things, not because I can help (although it's been known) but because I'm curious and want to know how things're progressing.

Which reminds me, I need to go look at the bugs I selected as "might help with" in August, as, um, haven't actually done anything but some might be done.

[jeshyr]

Thanks for the feedback, it's helped a lot having everybody chime in!

[ninetydegrees]

Think of it this way: your comment might be the one thing that prompts the next person to open the bug to think "Oh, now that I know where to look, I bet I could do this!"

A hundred times this. It's also good way to remind people that the bug exists. I sometimes discover 'old' bugs I can fix because a change was made (it got unassigned, somebody commented on it or added themselves to the CC list,...). I'd have missed them otherwise.

[jeshyr]

Thanks for the feedback, it's helped a lot having everybody chime in!

And hey, I think Soph fixed the bug too :)

[foxfirefey]

What you found out is very useful information. And speaking as one of the people who has ALL THE BUGZILLA emailed to them--it goes into a separate folder where I can go catch up when I have time. The kinds of things I want to know about are exactly the thing you're talking about posting.

[jeshyr]

Thanks for the feedback, it's helped a lot having everybody chime in!

And hey, I think Soph fixed the bug too :)

In addition to what everyone else said

[pauamma]

I don't want to interrupt important hacking just to make a comment about something.

If they're jumping to read their email while hacking each time something gets in, I doubt it qualifies as important - even for them. (And if they can handle email notifications or reading emails as they come without losing focus, you're not interrupting them, by definition. So I wouldn't worry. :-)

Re: In addition to what everyone else said

[jeshyr]

Good points, thanks *hug*

[yvi]

As one of the people getting all Bugzilla comments and updates and so on mailed - really, no problem. I get between 10 and 70 (Rah doing a suggestions run is always fun ;)) mails a day - when people sign up for these mails they know they'll get a lot of mails in their inboxes and comments on bugs are the more interesting ones :D