preset manager and preset string issue

[Nubeat7]

you are right danny, but for jay it would have been great to know about this thing.. is there a list somewhere of known actual bugs to avoid situations like this?

[trogluddite]

is there a list somewhere of known actual bugs to avoid situations like this?

Sadly not, though it has been requested several times in the past.
I think it would be a good idea...
When something doesn't work as expected, we could check the list to quickly see if it is a knows problem, and any known workaround - using forum search just doesn't cut it for that kind of thing, especially when some of these bugs are 'legacy' from the old SM code and so not noted on the FS forum.

I also think that even the smallest of bugs should be quickly fixed where possible - it's all about the 'principle of least surprise' for the user. It may seem like a 'trivial' bug that is less important than e.g. Ruby improvements, 64bit etc. - but if you're the poor sod who's schematic isn't working, and you can't quickly find the answer, "it's only a little bug so we just left it" just won't get your schematic working.
This is known as the 'broken window' principle...
It was found years ago by sociologists that if a building has only one broken window, and it doesn't quickly get fixed, then in very little time, the whole building becomes graffitied and the other windows broken - i.e. "the owner obviously doesn't care, so it's OK to trash the place".
Same in coding, as soon as you start saying "That's only little, we'll leave it for later", then before long, you have hundreds of these little bugs, that in total are just as damaging as one big one.

So get those bug reports off to 'admin', no matter how trivial you might think they are!!

[VPDannyMan]

Sadly not, though it has been requested several times in the past.
I think it would be a good idea...
When something doesn't work as expected, we could check the list to quickly see if it is a knows problem, and any known workaround - using forum search just doesn't cut it for that kind of thing, especially when some of these bugs are 'legacy' from the old SM code and so not noted on the FS forum.

I also think that even the smallest of bugs should be quickly fixed where possible - it's all about the 'principle of least surprise' for the user. It may seem like a 'trivial' bug that is less important than e.g. Ruby improvements, 64bit etc. - but if you're the poor sod who's schematic isn't working, and you can't quickly find the answer, "it's only a little bug so we just left it" just won't get your schematic working.
This is known as the 'broken window' principle...
It was found years ago by sociologists that if a building has only one broken window, and it doesn't quickly get fixed, then in very little time, the whole building becomes graffitied and the other windows broken - i.e. "the owner obviously doesn't care, so it's OK to trash the place".
Same in coding, as soon as you start saying "That's only little, we'll leave it for later", then before long, you have hundreds of these little bugs, that in total are just as damaging as one big one.

So get those bug reports off to 'admin', no matter how trivial you might think they are!!

I totally agree Trog, but sooner or later you get feeling like you are just being a whiner. So now I only mention something 3 times then I say forget and find a work around. Sometimes you just cannot spend your time waiting for things to get fixed, you have to move on and the only way to do that has been to find a work around. In this case luckily I have by getting the trigger from something else...

This is not Malc's fault, I mean he's only one guy and as such he can only do so much. Right? Some people have this grandiose idea that Outsim has a bank of programmers that are all working on FS. I'm pretty sure that's not true. As far as I know there is only one active developer and that's Malc. (I could be wrong though).
Furthermore, if there is only one active developer, he may not even be working on this full time. How many copies of this do you think are sold every day? No matter what, those wages still have to be paid, so it may in fact be that he only gets to work on this 8 hours a month! Who knows? I may be wrong there too? But if its a little something like that, then I would rather see the 8 hours dedicated to something else that does not have a work around. Like 64 bit, or a good solid Ruby version.

Just Sayin...

[trogluddite]

Yes, there is a need to be realistic of course. I've worked a fair bit since FS first release with Malc - whenever there is a bug which I have identified personally, I generally will offer to test any proposed fixes. And I know that he really does try very, very hard to make this the best software that he can,
The forum is a very useful thing here, as the folks who know the software well act as a filter for reports which are misunderstandings rather than true bugs - and we can put our heads together to determine the precise cause and conditions of a problem in order that bug reports are not too vague to be useful to the developers.

However, I do feel that very often on many forums, folks post that they have found a bug - other users confirm it as such - and then no-one actually bothers to contact the developers to get it officially logged. But, I have to agree with you that many users seem confused about the distinction between a "bug", and what is really a "feature request".
I would definitely encourage people NOT to begin a whole new thread with the title "BUG with XXXX" - much better not to be melodramatic, and write a simple post demonstrating the problem, and asking other users for their opinions first.

I know from talking to Malc, that one of his biggest headaches is to find the time to trawl the forum to see what is going on - something which may be very important for him to know can easily be buried. If I think something is a very serious issue, then I will often e-mail him about it to make sure it doesn't get missed - but I do try to be very selective about when I do this.
So I think an official reporting thread, or somesuch, would be a winner for everyone - users get a much simpler way to report things - and Malc can see what's been reported without having to filter the ramblings of folks who go on and on at tangents like I do!! Also important, it would act as a place for Malc to put a simple comment to each one - "identified as not a bug", "Ouch, sorry about that guys, we can fix it in the next release.". A lack of feedback encourages users to think that the developer is simply ignoring the issue, or just doesn'r care - you and I may well know that this is not the case, but it is often just as big a cause of discontent as the actual bug itself.

PS) Re workkarounds. Actually, i quite fond of them - I'm a sucker for puzzles of any kind!

[tester]

Well - there is definately a lack of some sort of an official bug tracker (with all these indications that bug trackers have), where a group of pre-selected people would be assigned (like "moderators" on forum), to add issues. People who whould decide what from the main forum should migrate and translate to bug tracker lists and what can stay here. That would make easier for everyone, because folks from forum could see what is listed on tracker and what not, and all discussion would end here, not there. What to give in exchange - free upgrades, and some guarantee that addressed issues will be solved? If I would have the influence on the environment I work with on everyday basis, then knowing that requested features will be added - wouldn't I be interested to help, if I have that environment for free? (otherwise - $20-$30 per hour of beta testing per person?). So it's a matter of thingking, where to find a golden point.