Help your software vendor help you.

When submitting bugs / problems reports to a software vendor, you should try to be as descriptive as possible. The details will reward you with a quick resolve, and contribute to the product you are supporting with wider compatibility, reliability, and enhancement because you took a moment to give a few details.

When posting on public bug / support channels, it is especially a good idea to give good details so that the users themselves to not jump to conclusions thinking they know what the issue is and confusing the matter. Even when in a panic or urgently requiring a solution, you should always take the time to describe the problem properly because you could end up wasting much more time by not doing so…. Reworking and reconfiguring things based on guesses instead of truly probable solutions that could only be gained by you giving an accurate and detail account of the issue.

"Image problem" or "It doesn't work" really does not help a support team at all as they are more meticulous then the average Joe, they will have nothing for you and have to start asking questions from scratch. Vague problem reports will also not bring attention to a other casual browsers / end users that might be able to contribute. To be effective in submitting a bug or reporting a problem and acquiring assistance, start with a great descriptive title and then follow with great detail within the rest of your bug/problem description.

• Can you replicate the problem?
• Have you isolated problem areas?
• What versions are you running?
• What other software is involved?
• Are there any customizations?
• Sequence of events: What really happened?
• Trial and error: What have you tried so far? What was the result?

See the following story by Simon Tatham discussing how to allow others to see the failure with their own eyes:

How to Report Bugs Effectively
by Simon Tatham, professional and free-software programmer


Introduction
Anybody who has written software for public use will probably have received at least one bad bug report. Reports that say nothing ("It doesn't work!"); reports that make no sense; reports that don't give enough information; reports that give wrong information. Reports of problems that turn out to be user error; reports of problems that turn out to be the fault of somebody else's program; reports of problems that turn out to be network failures.

There's a reason why technical support is seen as a horrible job to be in, and that reason is bad bug reports. However, not all bug reports are unpleasant: I maintain free software, when I'm not earning my living, and sometimes I receive wonderfully clear, helpful, informative bug reports.

In this essay I'll try to state clearly what makes a good bug report. Ideally I would like everybody in the world to read this essay before reporting any bugs to anybody. Certainly I would like everybody who reports bugs to me to have read it.

In a nutshell, the aim of a bug report is to enable the programmer to see the program failing in front of them. You can either show them in person, or give them careful and detailed instructions on how to make it fail. If they can make it fail, they will try to gather extra information until they know the cause. If they can't make it fail, they will have to ask you to gather that information for them.

In bug reports, try to make very clear what are actual facts ("I was at the computer and this happened") and what are speculations ("I think the problem might be this"). Leave out speculations if you want to, but don't leave out facts.

When you report a bug, you are doing so because you want the bug fixed. There is no point in swearing at the programmer or being deliberately unhelpful: it may be their fault and your problem, and you might be right to be angry with them, but the bug will get fixed faster if you help them by supplying all the information they need. Remember also that if the program is free, then the author is providing it out of kindness, so if too many people are rude to them then they may stop feeling kind.

1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9   |  Next Page »  »