Dries Buytaert wrote:
2. The number of bugs that need fixing grows steadily: http:// drupal.org/project/issues? projects=3060&versions=9728&states=1,8,13,14,2. How do we encourage more people to help fix bugs? How do we help people fix bugs?
I think there is a need for people dedicated to helping Drupal.org users turn forum topics into bug reports, as well as for people dedicated to reviewing, categorizing and harvesting bug reports. Is the problem description clear? Is the problem easy to reproduce? Is it really critical? If not, help them improve their bug report. Replying with one-liners like 'File a bug report!' or 'RTFM' is not considered helping in this context. The goal is to assist, to be helpful, to pull them on board and hopefully to make them "stick". Similarly, I think there is room for people that review patches like teachers would. In short, we need friendly hosts that help people make their first steps in their Drupal career.
Suggestions and concrete action points are welcome,
How about posting various links (like the one above) both in the mailing lists and in an article on drupal.org front page that direct people of various talents to where they can find a list of things they can do? Some examples: * A link to a list of bug reports that need to be verified. People who can install Drupal can do so and test the problem and report back that it exists or does not exist, saving the programmers who will would have to fix it much time. * A link to a list of bug reports which need to be edited for clear bug descriptions can be used by people who do not feel skilled enough to find the problem, fix it and create a patch, but yet who have enough programming and English-language skills that they can help clarify the problem for the programmers who can find and fix it, thus saving the latter group time and effort. Might be hard to do this, since there isn't an Issue status that corresponds directly to it. In general, give the things that need doing more visibility, and group them by the kinds of skills or actions needed to do them. ..chrisxj