Mandatory Requirement of the Reporting Tool

[gotitbro]

I see that it has been made mandatory to use the Adguard reporting tool for creating new issues in the forum. While I understand why this rule might have been felt necessary to make, honestly I don't think it was necessary to make it mandatory.

This is taking options away from the end user and adding more roadblocks. Most people use the mode of communication that they are most comfortable with. I for example have included all the necessary information that was needed and asked in all of my previous posts without the need of an external reporting tool and I like using the forums.

The shift to Github for things doesn't seem nice either. The most important thing goes away in that and that is the sense of a community.

I hope I can still open issues without resorting to the Reporting tool as I have previously done. The ideal rule would be that the reporting tool isn't mandatory but is preferred for reporting issues.

 

[avatar]

We don't want to take forum from you, this is still a place for discussion (and some issues do require it).

Ultimately, the reporting tool should make the submitting process easier than it is right now.

 

[for_adguard]

Reporting tool is much better for people who wants not to unhappy seeing unresolved threads..

 

[gotitbro]

@avatar I undertsand that it was done to make the whole process easier but for me it feels like a roadblock to the way I have been reporting issues till now.

What I want to simply want to ask is that can I still submit issues here like this https://forum.adguard.com/index.php?threads/resolved-time-com-missed-ads-windows.24881/ ?

 

[avatar]

@avatar I undertsand that it was done to make the whole process easier but for me it feels like a roadblock to the way I have been reporting issues till now.

Frankly, I don't understand why is it a roadblock? Could you please elaborate?

It is anonymous, rather easy to use, structured. What's wrong with it and what should we fix to unblock the road for you?

What I want to simply want to ask is that can I still submit issues here like this https://forum.adguard.com/index.php?threads/resolved-time-com-missed-ads-windows.24881/ ?

If we make an exception even for such a respected contributor like you, it will cause questions.

Again, the purpose is not to get rid of the forum threads. You can create them, and the issue can be discussed there.
Just accompany them with a report link where all the information is structured.

 

[gotitbro]

@avatar The fact is, it is an external tool. One shouldn't have to rely on such a tool when all the information can be provided in the issue/thread itself. My problem is not with the tool itself but the fact that it has been made mandatory.

This way it feels like an enforcement rather than choice (choice for which Adguard exists). I am saying that it shouldn't be mandatory but should be promoted as the preferred choice in the rules for reporting issues that way issues can still be reported with the user still retaining the choice on how to report issues.

Edit: I see that reporting is being heavily shifted to GitHub. This just makes me sad, all I see here is a community being disbanded nothing else.

 

[The Commissioner]

I think there has been a confusion somewhere, it is NOT mandatory to use the reporting tool only.
You can use either of the forums, the support mail, github issue repository and the reporting tool as well.
The reporting tool is not a supplement; if anything, it is complimentary.

 

[Boo Berry]

The report tool is still in its early days, but it'll be integrated into all of AdGuard's products (where it'll auto-fill most of the required information). In fact in the latest AdGuard browser extension beta, it's already been integrated. Since all filters development and issue reports are handled on GitHub by the filters devs, it's much easier to have everything in one place instead of two. In addition, depending on the issue, they can be given a certain priority automatically with the highest priority issues are addressed first. This saves time for the filter devs, keeps everything organized and better improves issues getting addressed. One of the main problems is a lot of issues reported here on the forums don't have enough information to reproduce the issue or simply cannot be reproduced by the filter developers - this just ends up wasting time for both the filter devs and the users.

Consider this; what if the rule was to report all issues to GitHub instead of the forums? A user would have to a) sign up for a GitHub account, b) create an issue from scratch and fill all information without any tutorial, template or guide, c) create issues with enough information that the filter devs need to reproduce and/or fix the issue. The report takes care of the majority of this, including posting the reports without needing a GitHub account (via the adguard-bot account).

It'll get easier as time passes and the report tool is improved and integrated into all AdGuard products. Once it does, it'll likely be easier and faster to report issues than reporting them on the forums.

You can use either of the forums.

From what I understand, users have to use the report tool to create a new issue THEN they can create a topic on the forums for discussions regarding the issue. The actual report is handled on GH, and the discussion can be the forums.

 

[The Commissioner]

Oh from what you are writing above Boo Berry it seems like his concern might be more grave than I thought then.
Can you please clear where this reporting tool is located in the AGWin?

 

[avatar]

Can you please clear where this reporting tool is located in the AGWin?

If you create a complaint via Assistant, it'll open a reporting tool with most of the fields pre-filled.

There will be an option to do it via "Support" tab as well later.

 

[avatar]

@avatar The fact is, it is an external tool. One shouldn't have to rely on such a tool when all the information can be provided in the issue/thread itself. My problem is not with the tool itself but the fact that it has been made mandatory.

Just look at it from our side. A huge part of the forum threads require maintainers to do additional work, the problem with the forum is that its purpose is to "discuss things" while the issue reporting is closer to bug reporting.

This just makes me sad, all I see here is a community being disbanded nothing else.

So you're missing the discussion part after all?

 

[Nzyme]

The reporting tool currently involves including information in each and every field and has some steps to fill for every request. What would be much better is that one single page is shown with all the fields on that page. Information that remains the same from one request to another should be populated and one just has to focus on things like Issue description, Link, Screenshot (basically like a form with dynamic fields). The other option is register for a GH account and post request directly on GH without going through the reporting tool. In this method, I am concerned about the priority and other tags/labels that were available when posting via the reporting tool. Now since these requests do not have tags, will they be considered with least priority? On what basis is the priority of the requests made when submitting via reporting tool?

 

[The Commissioner]

If you create a complaint via Assistant, it'll open a reporting tool with most of the fields pre-filled.
There will be an option to do it via "Support" tab as well later.

My opinion here is that not everybody has the assistant active all the time and I, for one, never had the need to enable the assistant and hence kept it always disabled.
w.r.t. adding it to the support tab, that's good one but till this was not made final it(reporting tool) shouldn't have been made mandatory.

I hardly even had the AG running in taskbar(always in background).

 

[avatar]

Guys, to sum it up: the shift is forum -> github, not everything -> the reporting tool.

A forum is a place for discussion, and there is a plenty of things to discuss. But it's not a right place for submitting and resolving issues, it simply does not provide the functionality required for that. We want to have labels, we want to search for similar issues, we want to link issues with commits, all these things save a lot of time.

Now since these requests do not have tags, will they be considered with least priority?

These issues should follow the same prioritization rules (depends on websites/apps popularity), and we'll automate assigning tags to them.

 

[gotitbro]

each and every field and has some steps to fill for every request

@avatar This is a good point. The web version of the reporting tool should store or let the user save the info for fields like OS, Product etc.

 

[avatar]

@avatar This is a good point. The web version of the reporting tool should store or let the user save the info for fields like OS, Product etc.

That'd be partially resolved with this:
https://github.com/AdguardTeam/ReportsWebApp/issues/107

 

[gotitbro]

@avatar Interesting, what about storing the data fields with cookies or a similar approach. So that whenever someone visits the reporting tool page the fields are auto-populated. Maybe even present an option on the initial run of the tool saying "Do you want to save these setting for future use?" or something similar.

Also, can we have a separate Adguard Discussion subforum? These threads do not seem to be off topic to me.


Off-topic: Which is the best map for Russian places: Yandex, Google or something else?

 

[avatar]

@avatar Interesting, what about storing the data fields with cookies or a similar approach. So that whenever someone visits the reporting tool page the fields are auto-populated. Maybe even present an option on the initial run of the tool saying "Do you want to save these setting for future use?" or something similar.

Awesome idea!

I've filed a feature request:
https://github.com/AdguardTeam/ReportsWebApp/issues/124

Also, can we have a separate Adguard Discussion subforum? These threads do not seem to be off topic to me.

Looking at all the posts in this subforum, it seems that we can safely rename this section into "Discussion", and create a separate off-topic section.

Off-topic: Which is the best map for Russian places: Yandex, Google or something else?

Both are very good. I'd say Yandex is better for navigation & avoiding traffic jams.