Gadget Portal started a thread in the official forums: New Jira System – Not Fixing Problems. In the post Gadget highlights the problem of not being able to comment on an existing Jira, an old one relating to group chat. As Gadget couldn’t comment, he raised a new Jira on the same issue, which was then closed as it’s a duplicate of the older issue, on which he can’t comment!
I’m sorry, I’m going to have to be blunt here, but this is yet another example of why the new Jira is a steaming pile of cack. Within the comments in that forum thread, besides me pointing out the new Jira is a pile of cack, we see posts from others who are so unimpressed with the new Jira that they are reluctant to report bugs. Let’s look at that again, people are so unhappy with how the new Jira works, they are reluctant to report the damn bugs. This is not a surprise because I had an issue today that sent my blood pressure rising merely at the thought I’d have to engage with this awful Jira system, fortunately I was able to sort the issue without having to go through the pain and agony of the Jira.
Is this really want Linden Lab want? A bug reporting system that people are reluctant to use despite being fully aware of how to use said system? I’m not going to pretend that the old Jira system was great, because it wasn’t. The new Jira system has one big advantage over the old one, it’s far easier to report a bug now because they’ve taken away lots of options on which category to file a bug under. However, the disadvantages are massive. Reporters are no longer informed when an issue is resolved being a massive disadvantage.
I’ve reported Jira issues in the past, I’ve engaged with project viewers in the past and reported issues on those too. I will not participate in the future with project viewers or new features with such a wretched Jira system in place, because it’s not worth the rising blood pressure levels. Other people, those with more tolerance of the new Jira will engage, for which I’m grateful because new features, bugs and project viewers need feedback, but I’m not going to get myself wound up by making the effort to engage with the Jira unless the issue is important enough for me to feel it really is needed.
The last few Jira issues I’ve raised have left me feeling very frustrated, largely due to the lack of feedback. One issue was closed as a duplicate of an internal Jira, this means I can no longer follow it, of course there’s no point following it as it won’t be updated and I won’t be informed it’s resolved.
Another issue I reported is fixed, but I know this because it’s a feature I use. There was a bug with the destination guide ad widgets, this is now resolved but I wasn’t informed it was resolved, no I just noticed it because I regularly use the feature, I’m supposed to keep my eye on the release notes to find out when an issue is fixed.
The Jira is a two way street, the Lindens didn’t like the way the old system worked, so they changed it. They may have felt that users of the Jira system were showing that system and the Lindens a lack of respect, if that was the case then they sure as hell have thrown that lack of respect back at the majority of users with the new Jira. The new Jira system is extremely unsatisfactory, it’s plain rude not to tell someone who has reported an issue that it’s fixed. This shows a major lack of respect for the people who spend their own free time identifying, troubleshooting and reporting bugs. People have limited time to engage with these matters, many work full time, others are full time students, others have homes to run yadda yadda yadda.
The Jira is an important tool for Second Life, people should be encouraged to report bugs, engage with other users and work together for a solution. However at the moment that’s not happening and it’s a great pity that Linden Lab can’t move towards a solution somewhere between the old Jira and the new one. The Jira really should not be the steaming pile of cack it currently is, that’s for sure.
Sadly, I can’t disagree here. I’ve given up on the JIRA myself, not because I feel “disrespected” or whatever, but because it just doesn’t seem to work effectively. I’ve been taught to always check for duplicates — and without that ability to comment/confirm/show workaround/etc., I jhave to just assume that either my issue is “just some stupid issue of mine” or that it’s likely been reported by someone else around and I’d best just let it go.
I used to use the Jira as a knowledgebase akin to Microsoft’s, that wasn’t how it was intended to be used but you’d often find a fix or a known bug due to the ability to search for bugs. Now that we can’t do that, it is painful and on the duplicates issue, I agree, how much time should we be expected to spend reporting an issue that someone else has probably already reported? The process is self defeating in that regard.
Linden Labs got tired of their JIRA revealing how poor their initial product quality was, how long it took for bug fixes and how many bugs were never fixed. Worst of all, people were posting JIRA number in social networks LL didn’t control to discuss and publicize them in fora outside LL control.
Now now they’ve neutered it; only a small cadre of people they like still have effective JIRA access.
Problem solved. Rod has no intention of doing anything serious with the platform going forward; it will just be a slowly deteriorating cash cow to support other efforts like this latest ultra-lame iPod text adventure thing.
Perhaps they didn’t like their bugs being exposed to such a wide audience, but really it’s better to be open about these matters, except when it’s a security issue.
The end result is really that bugs are less likely to be discussed and therefore LL alerted to them, which does nothing for the image of the product, but maybe it is in terminal decline.
JIRA = Justifiably Intensely Really Annoying
And yup, it IS just a steaming pile of cack. But as so many have said, I too hold the opinion that the problems LL felt it had are now “fixed”. That’s not to say the system works for its intended purposes, which it clearly does not. But the problems it caused LL are now resolved and thus it will never be changed again.
So here we have yet another brick in the road toward SL’s state of … “demise” .. although that is much too strong a word. The shame being that what could be a powerful, reliable and viable source of industry attention and respect, LL has turned into a …
Steaming pile of …
Yes it does seem that LL think this new Jira is the solution to people raising awareness of bugs, the less raised, the less it seems they have to fix but it’s a self defeating process.
Even the rowdiness on the old Jira, the postings to forums and all the rest of the energy revealed something many VW and MMO creators would give their eye teeth for – an engaged and large community.
I’m up in the cheap nosebleed seats, but I can’t help but get the impression from people closer to the ring, that LL is mainly interested in technology and takes the user community for granted. This doesn’t make any kind of sense. The old tech in SL isn’t all that – the user community itself would have been quite a prize, and if anyone can assemble something similar ever again, they’ll count themselves very fortunate.
If the energy of the user community dissipates, what is left? Old VWs malinger as shells of their former selves. New ones that fail to gain an engaged user community don’t last for long as a viable business no matter how advanced an engine they use.
Agreed, the rowdiness was a sign that people care, I’ve long argued that the real problem for SL will come when people stop complaining, because that will mean they are no longer engaged.
The Jira of course was more than just a list of complaints, important issues were discussed, workarounds were found and people linked to them when others had problems, all of which help lessen the burden on support for Linden Lab.