Sometimes I report a bug & the dev starts off asking for more details. But then there’s a kind of scope of effort creep where you start to realize you’re being tricked into finding where in the code the problem is so you can fix the bug.

It’s a bit of social engineering of sorts. When I post a bug, I do that from the back seat of the car. And it’s like the dev sits in the backseat as well while coercing me into the front seat. So sometimes there’s a bit of weasel words and nuances with sneaky wording that needs to be deployed in order to stay in the backseat while trying to get the dev into the front seat where they belong!

  • sorrybookbroke@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Yeah I don’t know man, as a dev this sounds like you are finding things that cannot be reproduced and the dev can only get more information from your machine. It’s like if you were calling up a mechanic on the phone. He can’t take the wheel. Would you be ok with giving them access to your PC remotely to try and find the bug?

    Nah man, we’re not trying to weasle you into finding the bug yourself. We would very much prefer to interact with end users as little as possible.

    • activistPnk@slrpnk.netOP
      01·
      1 year ago

      Of course… The reaction shows how seriously wound tight people are. Obviously not much sense of humor in this community.

      There are a couple rare cases where devs have tried to coerce me into a fix. Sometimes they outright say they expect the bug reporter to fix it, strangely enough. It never happened in a language that I knew, and weird that bug reporters would be expected to know how to program at all. But it’s far from the norm.

      • thingsiplay@kbin.social
        1·
        1 year ago

        While I understand this is humorous post, it’s not crystal clear. That does not mean people lack humor, that only means we encounter a lot of trolls or idiots in the forums, that we no longer know if someone is joking or is being serious. So you should not call people being seriously wounded, if your joke didn’t come as you wish it was.

        In short, if it’s not 100% clear (and it’s not), then marking it as “sarcasm” is not a bad idea if you just making a joke without trolling or flamewar. That’s just my thumb of rule. It helps you not get misunderstood.

        • activistPnk@slrpnk.netOP
          01·
          1 year ago

          That’s fair enough, but it’s a bit of both (satire and reality). It’s actually a true account (details withheld because I have a bit of respect for the developer in the recent case). This is something that really happens. Not often, but occasionally there are devs & others who expect bug reporters to do a fix. There’s a poor attitude that bug reporters are in some way a beneficiary/consumer and the false idea that the devs are working for the bug reporter. There’s also an assumption that the bug reporter is in some way in need of a fix. When in fact the bug reporter is a volunteer contributor, performing work for the project just like the dev. It’s just as wrong for a dev to demand work a bug reporter work on the code as it is for a bug reporter to demand work from a dev. Everyone gives what they can or wants to. A bug report is not an individual support request. It’s a community bug – one that may or may not even affect the bug reporter.