launchpad-dev team mailing list archive

[Karl Fogel <karl.fogel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This is for everyone here who ever responds in bug reports:

Let's please try to use each bug report as an opportunity to let the
reporter know that they might be able to fix the bug themselves!

Many reporters may not even know that Launchpad is open source, so be
sure to point that out and refer them to dev.launchpad.net.  If they
grab the Launchpad source code and have a look, who knows -- they may
try their hand at fixing the bug.  I've certainly seen this technique
work in other open source projects; it might work here too.

Now, I know what you're thinking:

True, the suggestion doesn't always succeed -- in fact, it rarely does.
While many Launchpad users are programmers, that doesn't mean they're
prepared to become Launchpad developers.  So just let them know the
opportunity is there: low-pressure encouragement is the way to go, *not*
high-pressure "you must supply a patch or we won't talk to you" stuff.

Fortunately, the cost for us is also low: it doesn't take much effort to
inform someone, as an aside in your response to their bug report, that
Launchpad is open source and that they can take an active role in fixing
the bug if they want to.  And when it *does* pay off, the payoff is big:
we get another developer, who if they succeed in fixing this bug will
probably try fixing other bugs as well.

The way to do is something like this, I think:

  "Thanks for the bug report.  Yes, I can confirm that I see this too.
   If you would like to help fix it, please visit dev.launchpad.net to
   get the code to Launchpad (it's open source), and if you have
   questions, post to the launchpad-dev mailing list -- many people
   there will be glad to help anyone who's trying to fix a bug.  But
   don't worry if you don't have the time or expertise to do that; the
   bug will still enter our normal triage system and someone else will
   get to it eventually.

   [...more discussion about the bug, workarounds, etc, here...]"

Adjust the text to match the apparent difficulty of fixing the bug, the
reporter's apparent skill level (if you can discern it), etc.  Be
sensitive, but don't be shy.

  1. Make the suggestion.
  2. Be prepared for it to result in nothing 95% of the time.
  3. Follow up with that other 5% enthusiastically.
  4. Profit.

(I'll put this advice in the appropriate place in the wiki.)

-Karl