READ THIS POST BEFORE SUBMIT YOUR BUG REPORT

To make the bug reports more effective please read and follow the points below:

1. Make a proper search if the bug was not reported before to Forums or Trac.

2. Double check it to make sure it is a consistent bug

3. Check it with other browsers and report any differences when possible, including browsers versions.

4. Clearly identify the problem. Do not use vague descriptions / references.

5. Explain any steps that need to be taken to see the bug. Don't assume that others will know what you mean automatically.

6. Define page that the bug is located. e.g. "index.php".

7. Take screen shots if possible. This is a huge help.

8. Report the fix if you know of one.

9. Check back on it to see that it was posted to Trac. HoustonLively has been putting messages in bug threads that say it has been added, along with the ticket number.

Huge thanks goes to our community member theguypc who suggested these points initially. We have decided to put this up as sticky post here.

NOTE 1: We have edited some items above from initial variant.

NOTE 2: We will add more items if we see there is a demand.

One question Victor:

When you or another staff member finds  a valid bug report that has not been reported to trac, do you, yourselves add it to trac before working on it?  If it's something really simple, the temptation is there to just fix it without reporting to trac first.  Do you guys have a set procedure for this?

also victor can we work on setting up some structure on this forum. with all of the different functionalities within the admin panel, and the functionalities from the user end, we need to have some structure as to where to have those who are testing post.

i.e.

Admin Panel

---> Extensions

-----> Spy

-------> Administration

-----> Polls

-------> Premoderation

-----> Shoutbox

-------> Shoutbox Settings

-----> Simple Messenger

-------> Simple Messenger Setting

-----> Facebook Connect

-------> Facebook connect setting

-----> Flash Apps

-------> Settings

-------> A/V Chat

-------> Comments Video Player

-------> Desktop (does this even work)

-------> Messenger

-------> Music Player

-------> Photo Shooter

-------> Video Player

-------> Whiteboard

-----> OpenSocial

-----> Custom RSS Moderation

----->Ads

-------> Manage Categories FOrm

-------> Ads-Tree Browse

-------> Settings

-----> Blogs

-------> Blogs Adminstration

---------> Admin Blog

---------> Settings

-----> Articles (votes and comments control)

------->Settings

------->Post Article

-------> Articles (can be named articles Management)

-----> Avatars

-------> Avatars Administration

-----> Feedback (slightly useless with all functions allowing comments)

-------> Settings

-------> Feedback (could this be feedback management)

-----> Google Site Search

------- Google Site Search Administration

-----> News

-------> Settings (comments and votes controller)

-------> Post News ( no tinyMCE on here?)

-------> News (could this be news management?)

-----> Orca Forum (can we lose the Orca:: Interactive Forum Script as the title)

-------> Manage Forum

-------> Flagged Topics

-------> My Topics

-------> Spy (this is a controversial name)

-------> Search

-------> Reported Posts

-----> Payment

-------> Payment Adminstration

-------> Currency Sign (why could this not be a drop down selection instead of key symbols?)

-------> Date Format in orders administration (why could this not be a drop down selection interacting with the database)

-------> Payment Details (nothing here, where are the other payment gateways?)

-------> Pending Orders (what does the license column represent? )

-------> Processed Orders (same as above what does the license column represent?)

well i have to go out for a while. will continue this when i return. but you guys get the gist of what would be more user-friendly rather than posting everything in one location. take for instance if you went to a grocery store, and the suppliers just backed up their truck and rolled everything out into the floor and you would have to sift through the can goods, dry goods, vegetables and meat from one massive heap of stuff, thats similar to what is going on here when trying to get users to post bugs, and pundits to track and report to trac if the bug is verified, if  not a bug, then some sort of post would be appreciative so the person would at least have an idea if they were wasting their time looking for an answer.

Regards,

DosDawg

i hope you get the idea, but in having this structure, it will be easier for all to find where something needs to be posted, the way its setup now, stuff just gets pushed away, and makes it difficult to find what has been reported and for what reason and whether or not it was a valid bug, or some other issue with the report.

I don't think this was meant to be a bug reporting thread.... only guidelines.  Of course, that's what you get when your forum script doesn't have basic features such as the ability to close a thread to further posting.

You guys better LOCK this thread.. and fast..