How to get quick resolution of your problem The most important thing you can do is describe the problem in way that let's us fix it without having to ask follow up questions:
Summary
- The first aim of a bug report is to let the programmer see the failure with their own eyes. Give them detailed instructions so they can make it fail for themselves.
- In case the programmer can't see it failing themselves, the second aim of a bug report is to describe what went wrong. Describe everything in detail. State what you saw, and also state what you expected to see. Write down the error messages, especially if they have numbers in them.
- Tell us the four basic observations:
- Where you WERE in a process (ex. "I was reading the poem titled "Diesel Breathing")
- What you were trying to DO (ex. "I voted one star on the poem using the five star gadget")
- What you did NEXT (ex. "I clicked 'add comment' and commented on the poem. My comment is the one titled "Terrible Poem")
- What you expected to HAPPEN (ex. "I expected to see my vote show up in the average, but the average stayed unchanged")
- If you'd like to speculate as to the cause, be sure to separate speculation from observations.
- Be ready to provide extra information if the programmer needs it. If they didn't need it, they wouldn't be asking for it.
- Write clearly. Say what you mean, and make sure it can't be misinterpreted.
- Above all, be precise.
(The below is adapted from the PHP Development Team's Guide on Reporting Bugs)
Those are the four basic elements of a bug report. You need to tell us exactly what you did (for example, "I went to vote on a poem") , what you expected to have happen (to continue the example, "I expected my vote to show up on the poem's voting average"), and what actually happened ("The voting average was unchanged."). And you have to tell us the context, "I was on the home page, then I went to read a poem, then I voted, then I submitted a comment, and when I came back to the poem, the voting average was unchanged".
If your bug report simply said "Voting doesn't work," we wouldn't be able to say "That's because... " By telling us what you asked for, what you expected to get, and what you actually got, we don't have to guess.
Please also let us know your browser and operating system. If it's a question about a way something is displaying or processing, perhaps it's related to your browser or operating system. No idea what your browser & OS is? That's okay. Check the line below:
Your browser: CCBot/1.0 (+http://www.commoncrawl.org/bot.html) (just copy and paste this line in your technical report)
Thanks for reading this.
Where should I post my bug report?
If the problem is absolutely urgent (major loss of functionality), contact us right away over the contact form.
If the problem is minor, or it is more of a support question (you aren't sure how to do something, but you aren't absolutely sure that it's "broken"), first check the FAQ for an instant answer. If you still can't figure it out, report it on the Technical Forum.
Inspiration
Thanks to the PHP Developer's Bug Report Guide and Simon Tatham's "How to Report Bugs Effectively"
We’re testing a new chatroom. It’s not perfect. Actually, it’s quite fragile. This page address a few things that could go wrong.
“Freezing”
Perhaps you’ll notice this when you type something and you don’t see it on the screen. All your friends will appear to still be in the room– but you won’t see anything from them. Que lastima. We apologize. The best way to recover from this is to to hit the red “X” button on the upper right corner of the blue screen. This will log you out. Then you can try to log in again…
You won't see on the surface, but Microsoft Word adds all sorts of hidden tags to material that is created there. When you copy it over to Neopoet, you might see problems like extra linebreaks where there shouldn't be, or other formatting issues.
How do you solve this?
There are two ways. The first is foolproof: read more »
No problem! All you need is access to the e-mail account you have on file with us.
You can reset your password by clicking the "Request New Password" link or by going here:
http://www.neopoet.com/user/password
You may enter either your username or your e-mail address.
You should then check your e-mail --
You'll get a link that you can use reset your password. read more »
It’s simple.
Just go to their profile page. How do you get to a profile page? Just click their name. If you are reading a poem and it says something like:
“Submitted by Louis…”
Just click the name “Louis” above and you’ll go right to their profile.
Once on their profile, look for the link on the middle left that says, “add me to your buddy list”. Click that and you are set.
"Is there a way to center my poem? I tried the <center> at the beginning of
the first line and </center> at the end of the last but it still will not
center."
"Your set poem entry panel doesn't allow for font, color, center, align, etc -- so
pasting seems the only option to post a poem."
We've gotten a few questions like this -- and we apologize in advance, because it seems that our answer is an unpopular one. read more »
Under the Showcase tab, click Advanced settings. [Or just click here]
Scroll down about a page until you see a line that says "picture" - from here, select the "browse" button and find the picture you wish to upload. When you've selected your picture, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click "Submit".
