Bug reports: tips and guidelines.

[Noctere]

As GMs we really appreciate it when players take the time to submit a bug report however sometimes we have difficulty understanding what the bug report is about or there may be more effective ways to submit that error to help us, help you.

Player bug submission tips and guidelines:

#1 Please refrain from submitting the same bug report more than once unless you have additional information to add.
We keep a list of EVERY bug report ever made and spamming the same thing may actually increase the time it takes for us to address that issue. Also keep in mind that, if the bug is major, often times many other players will also address the same bug, creating even more bug reports on the same problem. However, don't assume someone else is going to make the report for you so please bug it if you find it.

#2 If the bug pertains to something in a particular room, please make the report -IN- that room.
When you give a bug report, that report will also contain an exact identifier of where the player was when that bug was submitted. If you leave the room and say something like "In the elemancy tower", that means we will sometimes have to search the ENTIRE tower to find what the player was referencing.

#3 Please use as much detail in describing the error as you can.
We LOVE details! When a player puts in extra detail to describe the who, what, when, how, where, it really helps. However, please keep the bug report relevant to one error per bug report and use your best judgement.

#4 Please include the word TYPO in a typo bug report.
Typos are often very easy for us to fix and I like to fix them all in a row very quickly. So, by including the word TYPO, that will allow us to quickly search through our database to find them.

#5 Help us reproduce your bug.
Often times errors will only occur with a particular situation or sequence of actions. When we read a bug report of this type we will often attempt to repeat this error ourselves to verify the problem. So in these cases please: 1 See if you can repeat the error yourself and 2 Include the steps you took to reach this error.

[Blitz]

Props for these guidelines. I'm guessing people not familiar with programming, and in particular debugging code, are not necessarily aware of these things.

I did have one question regarding this:

Also keep in mind that, if the bug is major, often times many other players will also address the same bug, creating even more bug reports on the same problem.

I often wonder whether or not I should report some thing I assume others have ran into as well, especially when I don't know if these others would or would not report it. In this scenario, what would you rather have us do? Submit the bug risking a double report (or dodecatuple if the others thought of the same), or ignore it on the assumption someone else has it covered?

Your post seemed to suggest the latter is preferred, whereas I'd intuitively thought the former is better/safer.

[Jirato]

If everyone assumes someone else already bugged it, then no one will ever bug it. I'd say bug it anyway.

[Noctere]

#1 Please refrain from submitting the same bug report more than once unless you have additional information to add.
We keep a list of EVERY bug report ever made and spamming the same thing may actually increase the time it takes for us to address that issue. Also keep in mind that, if the bug is major, often times many other players will also address the same bug, creating even more bug reports on the same problem. However, don't assume someone else is going to make the report for you so please bug it if you find it.

Exactly what Jirato said. I updated the tip to reflect that point.

[Rias]

Please bug it anyway, unless someone has specifically stated they already bugged it. I'd much rather have to wade through a few extra reports than not have it reported at all because everyone assumed someone else had already bugged it (which has happened several times that I know of).

Thanks for posting these guidelines, Noctere.

[Rias]

Bug Info: the bug is still happening as before.

Please don't send bug reports like this, for the following reasons:
- It provides absolutely no details regarding what the actual bug is.
- We have no way of knowing which existing bug you are referencing, as no details were provided.
- It appears the sender knows the bug has already been reported. We do not need multiple "this bug is still happening" bug reports; one bug report is plenty. If you feel the bug requires more immediate attention than you believe it is receiving, REPORT it in-game, post about it here on the BBS, or send an email to clok@contrarium.net.

[Rithiel]

When you find a typo, or a problem with an item or room description please clearly spell out what the problem is. Likely this is something that many people have skipped over, and therefore it may not be obvious what the problem is.

Likewise, if it is a room description, you don't have to include the description, or even part of it.

Example: There is a typo in this room - ________ is misspelled.

That is a prefectly fine typo report, and is more helpful than simply reproducing the room description.

If you find a typo in verb messaging, feel free to include the messaging in addition to pointing out what the typo is - this helps with searching the file, since there is often multiple messaging and it may be hard to track down.

It cannot be stressed enough that the more detail you provide, the easier it is to track down bugs. This is especially true of mechanics bugs. When these types of bugs occur, we really need to reproduce it in order to track down what's going wrong. If we can't reproduce your bug, it is unlikely to get resolved.

This is a great mechanics bug:

I just battled a hyra in this room and I did not see any of my damage numbers. I saw the attack roll and the dodges but not what I hit the hyra for. Maybe be related to darkness somehow or some other bug.

Provides details about the bug (who was fighting) as well as what was missing and what was present.

Last, lately a lot of people have been using report instead of bug. Please don't do this, unless the bug is important (meaning it needs immediate fixing). A lot of time, GMs are not looking at the game window, and thus, if you use report instead of bug, it may go unnoticed. Some people use report to see if it can be fixed right away, and if they get no response, then use bug. This is perfectly alright - as long as a bug report goes in.

[Rithiel]

Please only use this topic for the discussion of how to report bugs.

[Jirato]

This kind of goes with #3, but when reporting something pertaining to an item, please include the FULL item name in the report.

For example:

"My oilcloth cloak doesn't block the rain when my hood is pulled up."

versus

"My cowled oilcloth cloak doesn't block the rain when my hood is pulled up."

Makes a HUGE difference and can save us a lot of time in trying to figure out exactly what is going on.

[Jirato]

Just a little bump and a reminder about guideline #2. Please, please, please, send BUG reports from the relevant rooms. If your bug report talks about a room in Mistral Lake, but you send it from the wilderness. I'm just going to be closing it. We have over 7000 rooms in the MUD. It's not always easy to track down one specific room. Your BUG report automatically includes the room ID of the room you are standing in when you send it.