Talk:Brainstorming/Guidelines

From MyPaint

[edit] Discussion regarding guidelines

Might be worth having an actual feature request tracker? Does Gna support customisable statuses? works for most projects, and helps when things start getting out of hand... --Naught101 10:44, 28 January 2010 (UTC)

especially since some of these features are now fully implemented, like the layer control dialogue --Naught101 10:51, 28 January 2010 (UTC)

Sure we can use the bugtracker for feature requests, too. In fact it is already used for this. Personally I also like the wiki for feature requests. It is easier to show screenshots here, brainstorm, and discuss things that nobody currently wants to implement. Bugreports work better for "small tasks" when it is obvious and we all agree what needs to be done. --maxy 23:13, 28 January 2010 (UTC)

Jonnor: I agree that most feature requests are not directly usable for us, or even incomplete. However I don't think we can educate the users who fill them. And every request usually contains enough information to at least guess about what some users want to do with MyPaint. Some users would never use the bugtracker or wiki and do Forum only anyway. Others would keep everything to themselves if they need to "fill a form". I think we should simply keep the ideas flowing - the Wiki is great for that. If someone cares, they can make a very good feature request on a wiki page. To some extent, I like the chaotic way the wiki currently works! It can be inspiring. And when I have little time, I feel much less obliged to answer here, than to find a resolution for a bugreport. (Somehow the really obsolete requests should go away, though.) --maxy 23:13, 28 January 2010 (UTC)

I guess I should add one thing: if you have a patch, please do not rely only on the wiki if you want to get it into master! You can still make a wiki page for it, but please also fill a bugreport (where you link to the wiki page, of course) or keep asking us for review (Mailinglist or IRC or Merge Request). --maxy 23:19, 28 January 2010 (UTC)

Keeping the barrier of entry low and encouraging free flow of ideas is important. I think that the current guidelines might be to strict there. Perhaps we should make it clear that rough, crazy and somewhat random ideas (edited) are perfectly acceptable? But also encourage people who really want something implemented to do a bit more thorough work? Or we could distinguish between "brainstorming" from "feature requests"? --Jonnor 14:01, 1 February 2010 (UTC) (signed later on)

Well for feature requests there is always the bug-tracker. I can also prepare a less formal template for drafts, but the way the wiki is organized at the moment is really chaotic. I wanted to organize the Features page, but I do not even know where to start. Same with some other old brainstorming pages. I can hardly see the benefit of an idea that is just thrown out without even considering why would it make sense to implement it (yes, I know that some of my ideas are like that as well). PS: please sign yourself ;) :P --Lukacu 12:40, 1 February 2010 (UTC)

Having large discussions on the bugtracker is not very nice tho, both due to limited functionality and because it is more hidden from the users (we want feedback). Feature requests can be distilled down to two main things: Why do we want something like this (motivation) and what is the best way of solving it (solution). But even a short, informal answer to this is still far from an idea which often is more of the nature "Hey, what if we did something like X? Wouldn't that be cool!?" --Jonnor 14:01, 1 February 2010 (UTC)