> Hello, > > As there were some exchanges about the survey here and as I advertised > it on this mailing list as well, I thought you might be interested by > my initial analysis: > http://standardsandfreedom.net/index.php/2013/11/10/users-the-final-frontier/ > > Thank you for your participation! > > -- If I may...
There are many ways for users to communicate: LibreOffice forum, Ask LibreOffice, several LibreOffice mailing lists, Nabble, wiki, Bugzilla, and several irc channels. The problem is, IMHO, they are sometimes "too many" and "too complicated". Let me explain with a simple example. In the release notes for LO 4.1.3, it said that the release was bit by bit the same as "RC3". Well, that was incorrect, as it is the same as 4.1.3.2, a.k.a. RC2 (there was no 4.1.3.3). What a casual reader needs to do if he happens to catch the "typo"? Can he easily report the one-character mistake? Does anyone think that this typo deserves opening a new bug report in Bugzilla? For each contact method mentioned above (each ML, Nabble, wiki, Bugzilla, forum,...), a user needs to go through an additional sign up, sometimes requiring multiple steps. In our example (RC3 typo), do you think a casual reader would go through a sign up process just to report one wrong character? Just as an example, I am subscribed to the users ML, and I found annoying to go through additional sign-ups for Nabble. I can understand that there might be relevant reasons for this; but it is still annoying :). On the other hand, if a user is interested in Writer only, having to receive emails regarding Draw (or anything else than Writer) is one reason not to subscribe to the users ML. So perhaps separated per-program lists should be available, instead of one unified "users" ML? (I am not necessarily recommending it; just mentioning such potential situation.) Then we have several irc channels, but none of those channels targeted to users are really active, ever (e.g. #libreoffice and/or #libreoffice-qa). So what's the point of publishing the "existence" of those irc channels if they are not really open with someone from the LibreOffice Team being present in the channel? I'm not saying answers should be "on real time". For irc to be relevant for users, someone at least should maintain the channel open and saving logs, checking it once a day or so. This is one contact method that could be easily used to report the typo mentioned in our example. One day is one typo, another day is another typo. Then there is some minor low-priority bug in the installer (e.g adding a link to the desktop even when the user unchecked the corresponding box during the installation process). Then the wiki might need some little correction or update... For each minor issue, a user could just think "not worth going through all the sign up troubles for each different service". As a consequence, none of those little corrections are reported / performed. What's the point of "Ask LibreOffice" if each question is seen, say, 3 times in a one week period? Most questions are unanswered. Similarly with LibreOffice forum. A user might not bother to sign up to such a method that is hardly ever used by relevant users; and if it goes through it anyway and no answer is provided (as it is the case with most "Ask LibreOffice" topics), it would probably generate a rejection response towards LibreOffice. If a user signs up and opens a bug report, that's because it is significant for him. Is this procedure relevant if the bug report is left unanswered for 2 years? Is this user going to keep reporting additional bugs? Evidently, solving bugs requires man power, so finding a simpler method to report "you have a st*pid typo" might help reduce wasted time, for both developers and users. So, making the contact methods more relevant, easier (unified?) sign up procedures and actually maintaining "active" and relevant the different contact channels would contribute to receive more feedback and eventually reduce wasted time. I am writing not to complain, but to voice my personal view of some of the ways to improve user's involvement in LibreOffice. I admit I am not sure if any of these changes would be the most effective use of man-power, so I'm not going to call these "recommendations". These might be potential considerations for potential improvements. Whether they are _effective_ use of man-power, I don't really know. Thank you and Best Regards, Ady. -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: users+unsubscr...@global.libreoffice.org Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted