[wp-hackers] Re: Lack of code savvy volunteers vs wp-hackers

[Owen V. Gray]

> And things get done. To date no one has really complained 
> that WP bugs are going unfixed for a long time 

- As Matt's search reveals, problems with MySQL 5 and certain queries,
including the post_content_filtered one, were reported in forum post
49232 on Nov 12, 2005.

- The post_content_filtered problem was corrected in the nightlies
(r3539) on Feb 17, 2006.

- The next stable version, version 2.0.2, was released March 10, 2006.
It did not include the r3539 fix for the post_content_filtered problem.

- The problem was mentioned again in forum post 73649 on May 25, 2006,
as well as in earlier and later posts.

- A ticket was filed in late August or early September (Ticket #3112).

- The post_content_filtered problem was corrected again last night in
the nightlies.

Do bugs generally go unfixed for a long time? Clearly not. Can bugs
sometimes go unfixed for a long time, despite the evidence of repeated
forum posts? Yes, it seems so. 

Does it help to hunt for someone or something to blame? No.

I agree with Matt that the forum search function itself is not
functionally substandard. Yes, some users just don't search, they don't
work at the problem. But they may not know enough to know what to search
for. Something isn't working. There is error message splatter on their
screen. If they knew what part of the splatter was the salient part, if
they knew what their problem had in common with some others' problems,
they might find a fix. But they don't have enough technical knowledge to
know that.

And consider the user who does search, and finds messages identifying
changes to WP that seem to stop the problem. Old messages. Message
threads ending with "is anyone going to fix this problem?" Months later
they are having the same problem with stable version code released long
after the messages containing the apparent fixes. They might conclude
that the problem is not with the code, not a bug to be reported (if they
knew how,) since if it were a bug in the code it surely would have been
fixed by now. 

> this is traditionally a job that's given 
> to the experts that *do* reside on the forums. Granted, they're better

> than us all for tolerating all that noise, but it's traditionally them

> that either
> a) File a trac ticket
> b) Put a heads-up here

I guess in this instance those other "better" experts didn't perform as
expected. Was it a reasonable expectation?

The original observation was that if more coders were looking at what
was being posted in the forums, particularly posts about mysql error
messages, good things would result. The second post in the thread
illustrated, as it turns out, that bugs that were biting users might
have been squashed sooner if there was more or different attention to
forum messages. 

Uncouple that from the suggestion that this list be merged with the
forums, thereby inflicting noise on hackers who do not wish to endure
it. 

Is it worth considering whether the already great approach to
development of an already great piece of software could be improved by
more or different monitoring of forum posts? 

O V Gray