User talk:HappyDog/Nasty

Hey!
Hey man, there's no need to keep telling me how to edit a wiki: Default value is an array, but an array of false values or true? I suspect the former. Either way, the documentation could perhaps be improved. --Kingboyk 18:37, 18 November 2006 (UTC)


 * The standard method is to hit the 'edit' button, make the improvement, click save. --HappyDog 00:56, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

Isn't it obvious from the above that I don't know the answer and am highlighting it for somebody who does to improve it? (Or for me myself to improve it when I've acquired the knowledge? :)) --Kingboyk 11:32, 25 November 2006 (UTC)


 * You made several posts such as this, which to be honest are not very constructive. They imply that someone out there knows all the answers and just hasn't bothered to write them up properly. Unfortunately, the few people who do know all the answers are not likely to respond here as they are busy making MediaWiki better, so it's up to the rest of us to fill in the gaps.
 * To answer your question, someone needs to do the research. Presumably, having not found the answer here you went on to look at other sources of help and eventually managed to get an answer and solve whatever problem you were stuck on, therefore you have already done this research and are in the best position to add the information.
 * Unfortunately, it is all too rare that people return to fill in the gaps once they have found the answer elsewhere.
 * I'm sorry if you found my response harsh, but we are all too aware that 'the documentation could perhaps be improved' and having it pointed out to us is not going to get as good a response as, say, improving it. --HappyDog 15:26, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
 * "They imply that someone out there knows all the answers and just hasn't bothered to write them up properly". Of course! Mediawiki is written by some brilliantly clever people but is (as is often the case when it comes to brilliant programmers) terribly documented. Somebody out there does know these things and hasn't written them up; not necessarily because they can't be bothered, perhaps because they don't realise us lesser mortals wouldn't understand.
 * Or perhaps because they are busy working on the code. Not everything needs to be documented by the developers.  For example, the answer to your question above is available by clicking a link that is on the page! --HappyDog 16:09, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
 * There's roles for all sorts of people on a wiki. Not everyone can contribute material, but they can point out deficiencies for other folk to fix or for themselves to fix when they've found an answer. I'll be doing that but I'm still getting my head back round PHP having been working with VB.NET for the last few months (see w:User:Kingbotk/Plugin). If you think that comments pointing out deficiencies aren't constructive we'll have to agree to differ I'm afraid. What's the alternative? I spot a gap in the docs and just keep my mouth shut because I don't know the answer?! I don't think so! --Kingboyk 15:54, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
 * OK - I agree with you, up to a point. So long as there are more people adding useful content than there are pointing out the omissions then we're OK (although I'm not sure whether that is the case yet...) --HappyDog 16:09, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

Don't delete redirects
Please don't delete redirects; it leaves broken links on local sites, foreign sites, documentation, source code comments, etc. I've restored a bunch you deleted on December 12. --Brion VIBBER 22:51, 22 December 2006 (UTC)


 * I wish you had mentioned this beforehand! There was a bold red notice on the front page for two weeks, plus messages on various forum/portal pages indicating that these pages would be deleted after a fortnight, including details about where and how to lodge any objections.  That was about 45 minutes of my life wasted - are there really that many external links to these pages, particularly given the brief length of time some of them have been in existence for?  The main namespace is just becoming a mess.
 * Sorry Brion - I don't mean to rant so much, when most of what you do is so brilliant, but I can't believe that you didn't see the notices (though checking your contributions, you may only have been to the site once during that time...). Anyway &lt;/rant&gt;.  --HappyDog 02:02, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

bugs
I am VERY unhappy with the treatment of bug reporting. I take this VERY personal. I am VERY willing to help. But this is developper arrogance to simply delete it. I was among the 85 main contributors in en:WP - but I left there, because of repeated policy violations and arrogance by the Sysops. I hoped here it is different. On what basis Bugs gets simply deleted away? And even if there is a basis ... it's VERY bad to delete these useful contributions. Tobias Conradi 14:12, 8 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Hi Tobias. Please don't take things personally.  I'm not the person who deleted that page, but I understand the reasoning.  It is important that Bugzilla is used for all bug reports, otherwise there is absolutely no way to keep track of them.  When 1.3 was released there was a page on meta used to log bugs and discuss changes (see MediaWiki_1.3_comments_and_bug_reports/Archive).  As you can see it was pretty unusable and ultimately ignored by developers because it took far too much of their time to even figure out what was a 'bug', what was a 'feature request', what was 'vague opinion' and what was just junk.  It is not arrogance - it is the only sane way to keep track of a product used by millions of people world-wide.
 * The bottom line is that if you want a developer to see your bugs, let alone act on them, they need to be entered into Bugzilla. The Bugs page was deleted because its presence gives a false sense of security that a bug has been 'reported'.  Unless someone (you?) wants to take responsibility for adding all entries on that page into Bugzilla then it is a waste of time. --HappyDog 17:28, 8 February 2007 (UTC)
 * thanks for you replying. It were my contributions that were deleted away, it's like putting tape on my mouth. That's why I took it personal. ;-) I added If you report bugs here, developpers may never see them! to the page. I do not see how my contribs are waste of time. They are only so, if the get deleted right away. The contribs can actually save time to some people. Because they are warned before installation about some bugs. Additionally someone might enter the bugs. I am unwilling to report bugs on bugzilla, because do not want to reveal my emailadress. Tobias Conradi 20:23, 8 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Try gmail.google.com. To be honest, if you don't want to report a bug then you don't have to report a bug.  However, if you do want to report one there seems little sense just shouting it into the void.  I have updated the page to give a lot more info and background about how to use Bugzilla and why it should be used.  --HappyDog 01:47, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
 * have gmail, thanks :-). Little sense - maybe it is limited to write it there, I agree. Tobias Conradi 01:51, 9 February 2007 (UTC)