We need a category for reporting problems specifically

gnydick

None of the topics we have are appropriate for reporting problems.

oliof

What's wrong with using the General Discussion category for things that don't have their own?

gnydick

@oliof because it's not a general discussion. General discussion is low-priority, and I tried once opening an issue on github and he swatted it down saying not to do it, use the forum. Well, the forum doesn't have a high-pri topic, so he has to scan all conversations that come up to find reports of problems. I think problems and questions should have different priorities and it would much easier if problems were able to be identified immediately. Of course, there are different levels of users and some problems may not actually be so, but I think the effort of watching all threads vs watching the problem thread more closely and dealing with non-problems, the latter is favorable.

DocTrucker

There are a few categories I've thought are missing to such as; forum site issues, web page issues (not Duet Web Control), & documentation issues. Mentioned this on the forum but seen no changes or reasons why they had not been added. All of these judt get bundled into the general discussion catch all.

To your query there is a request that problems be marked as unsolved until the issue is fixed. This is done after the post is made, you have to edit the post to mark it unsolved if I remember right.

dc42

I am open to introducing more categories, also to deleting any that are under-used. The titles need to be very clear so that users (many of whom do not have English as a first language) are guided to the correct category.

Possible categories include:

Thinking of buying a Duet? (for pre-sales support questions)
Firmware configuration
Troubleshooting your Duet system
Mechanical design advice

Thoughts, anyone? There is already a Hardware & Wiring category.

deckingman

@dc42 I think what the OP is asking for is a mechanism to report what he sees as "problems" rather than "questions". At least that's my take on it from his post of 13Feb2019, 20:36.

It seems he's not happy with the way that you deal with his "problems" as they aren't being dealt with on a high enough priority basis for his liking. I assume he means you (DC42) when he says "...he swatted it down" and ".....he has to scan all conversations......" etc.

dc42

So perhaps a "Firmware behaviour" category then?

Alexander Mundy

To me a "real problem" equates to "bug report". But what is thought of as a "bug" (at least in other forums I'm on) is often a configuration problem or lack of feature so those need weeded out to a different area.

BTW, I do like the idea of a mechanical design category as I recently tried to find a fit for my questions and didn't find a good fit. While not duet specific I can see there is a wealth of knowledgable design information among forum users.

Edgars Batna

Reporting problems should definitely get its own category. It should also be a guided process. People running in and throwing their two-liners is not a problem report. There should be a form with mandatory fields, including uploading samples, configuration, logs etc.

Ideally, it should be a ticket system with obvious information on who is looking at the problem and how to reproduce it and when, if ever, a fix is expected, but I'm probably thinking too corporate.

Thing is, it's free software and sort-of free hardware with all the typical disclaimers. Lots of people require support, but there are just a few Engineers and their time is gold, oh and they don't get enough credit. In any case, I think Duet3D is reaching a critical mass, so a problem resolution process should be put in place.

fcwilt

@dc42 I consider the current categories sufficient.

As to "priority" that is subjective. We have had folks, in the past, that were very sure they had found some sort of serious flaw but, after much discussion, it turned out to be "operator error".

Stick with first come, first serve.

dc42

@fcwilt said in We need a category for reporting problems specifically:

@dc42 I consider the current categories sufficient.

As to "priority" that is subjective. We have had folks, in the past, that were very sure they had found some sort of serious flaw but, after much discussion, it turned out to be "operator error".

Stick with first come, first serve.

Agreed, most (but not all) issues that people created on github were not bugs, they were either support requests or a result of misunderstanding. That is why I almost always close issues, referring the submitter to this forum. I'd like to restrict creating issues to specific users, but unfortunately github doesn't support that.

I am inclined to create new categories for Duet Troubleshooting and Firmware Behaviour.

fcwilt

@dc42 said in We need a category for reporting problems specifically:

I am inclined to create new categories for Duet Troubleshooting and Firmware Behaviour.

Perhaps just "Duet Troubleshooting" to keep it simple.

Frederick

Phaedrux

I think a troubleshooting section would help guide those looking for some support.

The problem with bug reporting is that everyone assumes they have found a bug, when that's rarely actually the case. Even if it is a bug, there will be some back and forth required to eliminate other possibilities and confirm reproduction, and the forum serves that fairly well as is.

I don't want to live in a world where we all must bend over backwards at the behest of a haughty few.

gnydick

@dc42 I think one thing that would help is a description for each category (at least the ones that need disambiguation). does this forum software allow that?

I like the 2 cats of firmware behavior and bug reporting.

Bugs definitely need their own place that you can review more easily.

Wyvern

Trust me, more and more categories won't solve any issues, but may actually cause more of a headache when you are trying to find or figure out what exactly you are looking for.

I use a program at work to log time, history, parts and notes, we have about 30 action categories, 45 system categories, and probably 600 component categories- most everyone has thrown in the towel and use random and incorrect job codes- making it a living nightmare to look through history and figure out what the hell is going on.

I spend about a solid hour just selecting categories and logging in notes and that's IF no one has already goofed it up.

gnydick

@wyvern so you'd prefer to have to scan all categories, looking for people who need help or are reporting a bug?

dc42 could spend much less time if he only had to keep an eye on a couple of groups regularly, while perusing the others at his leisure.

DocTrucker

Slight clarification on previous post but I think these are missing:

Website Issues (forum.duet3d.com / www.duet3d.com)
Documentation Issues

A cull/merger of little used titles will be good. Too many is a bad thing.

Wyvern

@gnydick
Problem with bugs, is you don't know its a bug until you know the root of the problem.

Most all faults are configuration or hardware issues and rarely is it actually a software glitch.

Most new users are going to assume strange machine behavior is a "bug", especially when they are using outdated firmware.

dc42

@wyvern said in We need a category for reporting problems specifically:

@gnydick
Problem with bugs, is you don't know its a bug until you know the root of the problem.

Most all faults are configuration or hardware issues and rarely is it actually a software glitch.

Most new users are going to assume strange machine behavior is a "bug", especially when they are using outdated firmware.

This is why I don't want a bug reporting catagory, but I am open to a "Firmware behaviour" category.

gnydick

@dc42 I don't care what you call it. But if you make it clear it's your high-pri category for people who can't get stuff to work AFTER following all of the documentation, that gives you less to patrol.

In some places I've worked, we had karma points that would go up if you did your due diligence and would go down if you didn't, like if you bugged people a lot while doing no background research to try to figure it out yourself. I don't know if that's possible here, but you could institute something like that for people who just blindly ask "how you do this?" in the high-pri category.