Re: Solution?
 

That sounds like an awesome idea. However - you would pretty much need the Devs to sign off on it. If the Devs won't use it, there isn't much point in exerting the effort (unless you just want to keep players up-to-date on all the bugs).

Re: Solution?
 

Well, it would not be to much work as I would be adapting one of my existing sites.

If we could get people to start reporting bug in there in a organized manner we would probably be able to get the devs to use it, unless they already have something like internally. If the devs want to use it they would of course get admin accounts on it so they could reclassify bug and things like that.

Besides, I like to have a little side project next to my ordinary work and a bug tracker is something I will need on another project that I will be begin working on sometimes soon.

I think I will create a thread to see if I can get some opinions on what features that would be needed.

Re: Solution?
 

Im not sure that such a site would replace the bug thread. But if you used such a site and came back here to create a tight list, then it might be very likely to replace the thread here and get read more by the devs without the need for in-betweens to read and sort thru it for them.

A preferred result here is something like this....

crash bug

1. doing xxxxx crashes the game
link to discussion thread about this bug

2. not doing xxxxxx crashes the game
link to discussion thread on this bug

major bug
1.
link
2.
link

That makes it easy to read. Easy for devs to reply to (using numbers instead of having to quote). Easy to update. And keeping a link for each item can help keep it free of debates.

Of course there is still the big problem of bugs that arent bugs but thats a headache for whoever decides to takle this.

Re: Devs somewhere?
 

Lot of people with a second work make lots of effort recovering bugs and making improvement to big projects without my $$$ (Wesnoth, and hundred others). The fact IW has my $$$ make me think they should put more effort, not less.
Another thing is that 90% of the bugs are so small (but there are so many) that could me corrected only putting hands on data files. An example are the lots of little discrepancies in the descriptions, the bugs in the data files found by Edi, and so on. And if the devs think a trident is one handed and not two, it is not a problem, a line in the forum would delete the bug.
And do not tell me "then do it yourself by modding", I don't have time nor, more importantly, your $$$. And modding should be used to add contenent, or eventually, to resolve some banlancing issues not shared by the devs, but not to correct bugs.
Finally hearing that people find bugs and does not report them because K.O. does not look the thread anymore ... well, makes me sad.

Re: Devs somewhere?
 

Wesnoth uses the open software model, which is a perfectly valid choice - and yes, it does make it possible for many people to help correct "small bugs".

IW chose not to go this way (another perfectly valid choice), and as a result, they don't benefit from the direct help of players in squashing bugs.

Re: Devs somewhere?
 

Ok, but considering they have it for free, it seems a waste.

Re: Devs somewhere?
 

To really get it for free (that is, with no or little extra work for coordination), they'd need to release the source and file format, at least to volunteers. Not exactly something developers of commercial software do easily.

Re: Devs somewhere?
 

So for you a ordered and clean bug thread is a waste of time? Is testing worthless?

Re: Devs somewhere?
 

Free programming help comes with its own pros and cons.
I can get free help working on my car, or fixing my electrical problem. But it doesnt mean that I want to. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

An ordered and clean bug thread is definetly not a waste. It would be a big benefit to the devs. It would even be a big benefit to the beta testers who are trying to port over the items in the bug thread so that the devs see it.

Re: Devs somewhere?
 

An open source approach will pretty much invariably get better results as far as fixing bugs and such is concerned, but it does require giving up control. Not sure if I'd want that to happen, regardless of the benefits.