Today I realised again how big and popular QGIS is getting - and how I seem to be spending 1 or two hours a night answering emails (which pretty much uses up my coding hours). Today I wrote this to the users list...I think its important to remind the folks there of how to give constructive feedback evey now and then....

I just wanted to post a general reminder to the many kind folks who have written to this list with bugs or potential bugs they have identified in QGIS. We really appreciate the help - especially when it relates to the 0.8 release previews. We know a lot of people are anxious for the final release but we really want to squash all the bugs before releasing 0.8. If you do find an issue with QGIS it would help a lot if you could follow a few simple guidelines:

1) Check if someone else has already filed a bug for the same issue

Check if someone else has already filed a bug for the same issue and add comments to the ticket if you have any more useful diagnostic information to add. There is a search tool for the bug list (see link below) and there are other ways to look for bugs on the site below. Don't worry its not difficult and doesn't require any great amount of technical knowledge.

https://svn.qgis.org/trac/search?q=&wiki=on&changeset=on&ticket=on

2) If no bug already exists, file a new one here:

https://svn.qgis.org/trac/newticket

If possible include a sample dataset that replicates the problem (if applicable) and describe the exact steps you took to trigger the issue. Also be sure to include your contact details when reporting a bug so we can get back to you if needed.

3) Reference your bug when posting to the list
If you do write to this list to discuss a bug, please reference the bug url in your email. Also be sure to mention your operating system, how you built / installed QGIS and which version you are using.

4) Reporting a bug is instantaneous, fixing it takes time

Please remember QGIS has no paid developers - we are all volunteers doing this in our spare time. Consequently bug fixes will usually have to fit into our otherwise busy lives and so much as we would like to we cant always fix issues immediately.

5) Avoid posting questions directly to developers.

Or at least CC the user or developer lists if you do. We get many, many queries relating to QGIS and cant always answer them all personally. By posting to the list you provide an option for other members of the user and developer community to help you too...

Getting feedback from the user community is a fantastic medium for improving the software and we really value your input. We would particularly like more input in the form of bug reports from our windows users. Since all of the developers are using either Linux or Mac, we dont encounter the full range of issues our users do. So your windows related feedback is especially useful to us.