On 2010-05-06 14:58, Allan Odgaard wrote:

It is btw interesting that users sometimes find it useful to state that they feel something is a bug. That they need to state this probebly means they realize that the issue reported is not a typical bug (i.e. it doesn’t crash, misbehave, perform wrong action, etc.).

I am asking in all seriousness, what is the perceived effect of including such remark?

(group question, anyone feel free to answer)

Surely you've reported a bug (in whatever) before, Allan, only to get told, "That's the way it's supposed to work." I think that stating that something's a bug is done to short-circuit that sort of response. It's done to tell the developer "This behavior is *wrong*, even if it is per design". I'm not saying that calling it a bug works, necessarily, just that that's the rationale...

It doesn't sound right to simply report a behavior. "When I do this, that happens." Um, yeah, and...? Is that a complaint or a compliment? At least adding "I think this is a bug." lets the reader know it's a complaint. In Adam's case it was probably redundant, since he cited chapter and verse about what the correct behavior should be. Still, better to err on the side of clarity.

On 2010-05-07 10:56, Rob McBroom wrote:

I think he was asking why people say "bug" when there's no bug. In other words, why say "this is a bug" instead of "this goes against established UI practices"?

My guess is that people expect bugs to get more attention, so it's an attempt to inflate the seriousness of the problem.

Well, if you assume that "follows the established UI practices" is an implicit requirement, then the program doesn't meet the requirements. Therefore, it's a bug. Not on the same scale as "It segfaulted and wiped my hard drive!" maybe, but it's still a bug. It's on par with a spelling error in one of the menus. It doesn't really affect the functionality, but it's still wrong and needs to be fixed.

Actually, this particular problem does affect functionality, as it breaks the accepted keystroke for the 'Ś' character. If a bundle managed to override the keystroke for the unadorned plain-ASCII 'S' I don't think think there would be any question of it being a bug.

-- Steve King Sr. Software Engineer Arbor Networks +1 734 821 1461 www.arbornetworks.com http://www.arbornetworks.com/

It is btw interesting that users sometimes find it useful to state that they feel something is a bug. That they need to state this probebly means they realize that the issue reported is not a typical bug (i.e. it doesn’t crash, misbehave, perform wrong action, etc.). I am asking in all seriousness, what is the perceived effect of including such remark?

Haha, good question. I can only explain myself what kind of effect I expected to trigger with that remark. I just wanted to pin the attention for few more seconds before this post goes to the trash, believing that such fancy remark would give it a more chance to get positive feedback.

This is just because probably none/few of you use ⇧⌥S to type Ś (accented S), few may use other ⌥letter to type other their own national weird characters. Still the majority may perceive binding Option to some letter good idea, as the majority (thinking of English, French, German, Dutch, etc.) probably doesn't use any accented S or whatever with Option :P

Still I wonder what was the EFFECT in your case, Allan :) Kind of psychoanalysis question, isn't it? Lay down on the sofa, relax please, and tell us your story...

Cheers,