Issues

This page is under heavy development. Here is the Dev Chat page, which is being incorporated into this Issues portal.

 

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Did you find a bug?

Is there a usability issue?

Do you have a great feature idea to share?

Development Protocol

• We are a global community with a great diversity of opinions and potential. Always be respectful!
• Both devs and players are very busy: following a protocol is a matter of professionalism.
• This protocol will help you contribute to development in an effective and orderly fashion.

 

RESEARCH

How?

Look it up!

• Before posting to the community, please first research existing resources.
• Poorly researched posts could be misunderstood, ignored, or deleted.

Resources

• Has the issue already been reported, or even resolved?
• Find potential solutions to an unresolved issue!

Understand

• Be prepared to describe each key point of the issue.
• Take notes on any details, screenshots, or links that help explain the issue.

 

Where?

Wiki

• EteRNA Wiki
• Browse, or use the Search field at the left bottom of the screen. Do not post yet, just research!

Forums

• EteRNA Forums
• Browse, use the Search field at the top right, or use the "Ask a question" box in the top center of the screen. Do not post yet, just research!

GitHub

• EteRNA GitHub
• Browse, or use the Search field at the top left-center. Do not post! Players do not have GitHub access at this time.

 

COMMUNICATE

How?

Friendly

• Players and Devs are very busy! Always be kind, patient, and respectful. 
• This is a community of all ages and talents. Remember, we're all in this together! :)

Brainstorm

• Share key points about the issue to get relevant ideas.
• Give examples gathered in your Research.

Collaborate

• Discover solutions you might not have thought of alone.
• Help others, and they will be inspired to help you!

 

Where?

Chat

• EteRNA Chat
• Login or Register at the bottom left, and then you can Post in Chat, which is accessible at the top right after logging in.
• Respect that players are busy and may not see the question, or know the answer at this time. You can try Chat again later, or to preserve the Issue create a Post in the Forums instead. ( see below )

Groups

• EteRNA Groups
• Login or Register at the bottom left, and then you can Search, Browse, Follow, Subscribe, and Create Groups through the Community -> Groups menu at the top of the page.
• Be patient and keep in mind that the global community spans all time zones. Some Groups are open registry, while others are invite only. If you are nice and do not spam, you will make friends easily! 

Forums

• EteRNA Forums
• Login at the top right ( requires EteRNA Registration, see above ), and then you can Post in the Forums using the "Share an idea", "Report a problem", or "Give praise" tabs box in the top center of the screen.
• The Forums provide a central whiteboard to post Issue descriptions, images, and links. This provides a record of the Issue that we all can refer to at any time, unlike Chat which disappears quickly.

 

DEFINE

How?

 

• DETAILS: Preliminary research & discussion filters out redundancy, and allows for collaboration / shared wisdom that could change critical details of the issue, or potentially resolve it without ever filing it in GitHub.

• COMPREHENSION: Remember, Forums and Dev Chat are for discussion, GitHub is not. By the time an issue gets to GitHub it must be fully understood and vetted.

• Please use this Dev Chat portal here on the Wiki to formally outline player requests and set priority.

• diagnose
•  the forums preserve the discussion, which is indispensible for reference during the following stages of development. 

 

 

Where?

• forum
• WIKI:
• dev chat 

 

TRACK

Issue Tracking: Once a bug or feature has been approved for exploration during Dev Chat, it will be entered into GitHub. If there is an additional tracking mechanism, it should be updated here. Stay tuned for incoming updates on this matter!

Rhiju is looking into whether players can edit the existing EteRNA GitHub instance directly, or whether the devs prefer to branch out a separate player-level GitHub instance. Either way, soon we hope to have a more robust tracking system that will enable proper tagging & tracking of issues so that nothing gets missed.

When a GitHub instance becomes available for final-stage tracking of issues, GitHub will take over the role of formal filing & tracking of issues, and then this wiki Issues portal will function only for the preliminary stages of issue tracking.

Please note that even when we get the awesome power that is GitHub, DO NOT skip the preliminary stages of issue exploration! The preliminary stages of understanding an issue are just as important as the actual filing of the issue with the dev team. Why? Another good question!

• ORDER: Ever wonder what happened to that random suggestion that flew by in chat? Or that issue that keeps popping up in the forums? Following a protocol ensures you know where to look for what, and when.
• FOCUS: It may seem like a good idea to plug every possible issue directly into GitHub, but I assure you this will only overwhelm the devs with tedium, and it will be that much harder for them to focus on fixing the bugs and features that are most important.

 

 

Where?

• GITHUB: 

ARCHIVE

 

 

Where?

• WIKI: 

 

Respect

• Following a protocol is a matter of professionalism. Both devs and players are very busy, and .
• We all have sparks of ingenuity, followed by the sobering requirements of actually manifesting a solution. When we take the time to ..., we show respect to our fellow colleagues.