Consider a dedicated bug report category

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1

I would like to propose a dedicated bug report category here on the forum.
That would be moderated, with strict policies.

Where users can report something, moderators try if they can to reproduce.
If it is reproduced (or not), it can be reported by the moderators to the VCV github.
Where after a thread can be closed, and used as FAQ link.

There are many users and will be more, that do not have or wish to be on github.
Which i totally understand.
So it would only make sense if there was an official bug report section at the official forum.

Any thoughts about this?

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I just signed up to github specifically to report a bug. It’s not that hard to do and gets all the bug reports in the same place

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3

Good idea. Most people don’t know how to properly report bugs. I also think some discussion here may be needed sometimes before moving to GitHub. I may be able to help a bit with this section.

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i understand that you think that way, and that you like to do that.
But in all seriousness can not expect everyone want to do that.
However a forum that is part of the whole is far more inviting, and in the long run will benefit attracting more users to the forum itself. Have a good place to view and read about bugs.
Github breaths developers spirit, that is not accessible to everyone and easily scares off people instead.

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Agree it would be a good idea (tho Imo it wouldn’t be good to have the mods do the testing , there is already lot of work for 'em)

It’s true these days with the release of V1 the forums have been quite messy with tons of (almost always the same) bug reports from sometimes salty people.

So yeah, +1 for a dedicated bug report section

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6

I think this Idea could work just to confirm the bugs before post in the github, but this forum don’t have the tools to be a good bug tracker… has you seen how many threads have the bug tracker in github, it is really difficult to manage , especially if only one person is handle that.

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well yes this is the whole point, especially for people that want to report a bug , but not want to be part of github.

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8

We use GitHub issues for bug reports and feature request because it scares off users that are unwilling to put a minimum level of effort into writing their report. We want users to go through the unnecessary step of creating a GitHub account, search for existing issues, and fill out the issue templates.

Contrary to popular belief, 98-99% of bug reports and feature requests do not help the VCV project. By forcing users to follow a 5-10 minute procedure, we reduce that number to around 80-90%.

Why do most bug reports not help VCV Rack improve?

  • Most bug reports are duplicates. By requiring users to search existing issues, the number of bug reports decreases by a factor of 5-10.
  • For non-duplicate bug reports, if I can’t reproduce the issue, there is a 0% chance it will be fixed, and therefore it is a waste of breath. The bug report issue template encourages users to guide someone other than themselves to reproduce the bug.
  • If I can reproduce the issue, it is likely that I have reproduced it before. (I use VCV Rack too, you know.)
  • So the only useful bugs are those that 1) aren’t duplicates, 2) have details to reproduce, and 3) are new to me. Now you can see where I get the 98-99% figure.
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9

Yes that is so true. But it’s also true that we don’t want the forums to be filled with bug reports ( as its the case since a few days).
At least having a place here where people can “complain” about something would free the main forum of all this

10

So you’re suggesting a forum category where people are allowed to post bug reports and feature requests, but I don’t read? Apple does this with Apple Support Communities where Apple just ignores it and lets people just type what’s on their mind. However, even on there, if someone opens a bug report or feature request, someone will say the classic “Apple doesn’t read this forum, use https://www.apple.com/feedback/” and then nobody usually responds after that.

So I’m not strictly opposed to this idea, I just find it nonconstructive to create a “containment board for useless low-quality bug reports” on this forum. Here at VCV we try to not spend time on things that are pointless for the users, the developers, and the project itself. I encourage our moderators here to continue closing threads with links to https://vcvrack.com/manual/FAQ.html#i-found-a-bug and https://vcvrack.com/manual/FAQ.html#i-have-a-feature-request.

I should note that VCV customers are always welcome to email VCV about their purchased VCV-branded plugin using the email on https://vcvrack.com/contact.html.

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11

Seems good to me :slight_smile:

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Hi everybody ! Hope you’re doing well. I would like to report a critical bug with ByteBeatMachine plug-ins. They make my Rack crash when i try to open the visual library to browse the plug-ins list. Removing ByteBeatMachine from the plugins-v1 directory is the only way to avoid the crash
Operating with OSX 10.10.5 and VCV Rack 1.1.1.
Cheers !
Éric

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This issue is already known, and it’s being worked on. And btw, this is not the place to report bugs, also there is already a thread for this issue Hope you have a good day too :slight_smile: Have fun with Rack !