Expressing yourself can be hard when you're faced with things not working the way they should. You may be frustrated, angry, perplexed, or laughing uncontrollably. Take a moment, breathe deeply, and read on.
How to Write an Effective Bug Report
How do you tell if it's a bug? Generally, you will see some sort of error message for the most obvious ones. They look a bit like this, though the details are subject to change:
*A bad thing happened.
Trace written to /log/runtime
An error has occurred. Please report the context in which you received this message using 'note bug'.
From such an error message, you should state the line '*A bad thing happened.' However, this is only one part of the vital information needed to make a successful bug report. You'll also need a brief description of what you were doing when the bug happened and a succinct title so the creators can tell at a glance what the bug is about. Generally, it's best to make the bug report in the room where the error happened. Here are some good examples of bug report titles:
- Dave the butcher has no head, but is still talking
- Casting magic in this room causes 'bad argument 1 to switch'
- 'craft quickly brain' makes my head disappear
Here are some not-so-good ones:
- LOL!!!
- I must be insane
- Some runtime error
- Bug?
How to Write an Effective Typo Report
First, if you don't know the word, be sure it is actually a typo before reporting it. Once you've verified that it is incorrect, simply 'note typo' and begin with a reasonably short, to-the-point summary for a title. Again, as with bug reporting, this is most effective when done in the same room as the typo. Now that you've got a title, just mention the bits of the description that are in error. Examples:
- Smithy description mentions 'axes' but they can't be looked at
- Line 2 of this room says 'two axes are crossed' but there aren't any details about them when I try to look at them.
- Crafting message for sunglasses 'polisheses'
- When I got to step 3 of making the wire-frame sunglasses, it said 'You polisheses the lenses'
In summary:
- Be precise.
- Include steps to reproduce.
- Note the bug or typo promptly. (both to keep the details fresh in your mind, and to log the location in the post)
- Chek fer mistaks.