[feedback] issue tracking

[haste]

I'm horrible at gathering my thoughts (at least in the morning), so I just made
some lists out of it all :p.

I recently started to use the bug reports / feature requests, and I have some
issues with how it's all is set up.

I'll start of with the minor stuff:
- Limited pagination - We can currently only see 10 issues per page, and there
is no way to change this into a higher value. I would personally want to see
50 items before I get a new page.

- No sorting - This is a half truth only. The system currently does sorting
when you enter the lists via the "User info" box on the Community page. The
sorting won't be transfered to the next page however, so it makes it all
into a gigantic mess of duplications and mind bending experiences for tired
people. Sorting by last activity would be the most sensible option IMHO.

- No notification support - There is no way of getting e-mail pings about
reports/requests made on the lists.

- "User info" notifications are flawed - I honestly have no idea how these
work. Sometimes it doesn't mention anything about a new bug report / feature
request, other times they are there for the rest of the day.

- Issues posted by the author are treated as unread and new.

The more major stuff (also known as haste is simple minded and finds your
current solution overly complicated on):
- Too many front-ends - The system is currently split into four sections:
bug reports, bug reports (admin), feature requests, feature requests
(admin). I personally find this _very_ confusing to work with. If I want to
update the status of a ticket I need to go to my portal (which I had to
bookmark, because the only place I can find a link to it is on the community
page, or by searching for one of my add-ons), click on the bug/feature list
link and find the bug/feature I was looking at again. That's quite a lot of
extra work just to change the status. It also makes me in many cases link to
the admin front-end when I want to point someone towards a bug/feature.

- Over complicated statuses - This is probably a very personal choice, but I
would personally just have: closed, on-hold and open to indicate the status
of a bug / feature. I feel that the list right now is a mess of text, sorted
by id.

- Separation is bad - Bugs and features are basically the same thing, and they
can be treated as the same thing. Now, I use this system as a TODO list, so
splitting them in two just means I have to watch two lists, instead of one.
Saying separation is bad is slightly wrong from my side however. The way I
designed my own issue tracker was by splitting it per project, and allowing
switching between projects similar to the layout switch on the forum here.

I believe I managed to include everything I had on my mind.

---

Here's a little example from right now:
» New Bugs (2)
» New Bug Notes (5)

Those five notes were written by me, and the only way I can get any of the above information refreshed is by logging in and out. The first bug was also new 3 hours ago, and I replied and switched it's status, but it still shows as new.

[Seerah]

Dolby does have a portal system rewrite planned, though I'm not quite sure when he'll have time to get to it. Some of those issues I and others have brought up in the past as well. Thanks for your feedback, haste, and I'm sure he'll use it when redoing Portals.