Feature #6992: Put it more clearly that most bug reports without an email address are useless

Feature #6992

Put it more clearly that most bug reports without an email address are useless

Added by intrigeri about 11 years ago. Updated about 10 years ago.

Status:

Resolved

Priority:

Normal

Assignee:

Category:

Target version:

Tails_1.3

Start date:

2014-03-30

Due date:

% Done:

100%

Feature Branch:

feature/6992-whisperback-email-address

Type of work:

Code

Blueprint:

Starter:

Affected tool:

WhisperBack

Deliverable for:

Description

Our Report an error page reads:

Giving us an email address allows us to contact you to clarify the problem. But it also provides an opportunity for eavesdroppers, like your email or Internet provider, to confirm that you are using Tails.

The WhisperBack UI reads:

If you don’t mind disclosing some bits of your identity to Tails developers, you can provide an email address to let us ask more details about the bug. Additionally entering a public PGP key enables us to encrypt such future communication.

Anyone who can see this reply will probably infer you are a Tails user. Time to wonder how much you trust your Internet and mailbox providers?

I think it would be good to put it very clearly that most bug reports we receive, that lack an email address, are basically useless.
(And by the way, I would remove the “Time to wonder..” part, that feels a bit too defensive to me.)

Subtasks

Related issues

Related to Tails - ~~Feature #7180~~: Remove the right pane of WhisperBack	Resolved	2014-05-09
Has duplicate Tails - ~~Bug #6855~~: WhisperBack should explain why providing an email address is useful	Duplicate	2014-03-06

History

#1 Updated by intrigeri about 11 years ago

Assignee set to sajolida

Assigning to sajolida to get his opinion. Please set another kind of work and status = confirmed if you agree, or reject else.

#2 Updated by sajolida about 11 years ago

Status changed from New to Confirmed
Assignee deleted (~~sajolida~~)

I think the sentence in the documentation is less defensive than the one in WhisperBack, so that could be an easy improvement.

I’m leaving this as a “Discuss” task, but for me that could be made a “Code” task assigned to Alan if we agree on this option.

#3 Updated by intrigeri about 11 years ago

> I’m leaving this as a “Discuss” task, but for me that could be made a “Code” task
> assigned to Alan if we agree on this option.

Getting the phrasing right would be better done before sending the ball in Alan’s court.
Do we want exactly the same phrasing as in the doc?

#4 Updated by sajolida about 11 years ago

>> I’m leaving this as a “Discuss” task, but for me that could be made a “Code” task
>> assigned to Alan if we agree on this option.
>
> Getting the phrasing right would be better done before sending the ball in Alan’s court.
> Do we want exactly the same phrasing as in the doc?

Seeing the context, the sentences could be the same on both sides.
Reusing the one currently in the doc would already make it less
defensive. Do you think we should make it more explicit that most
reports without email addresses are useless?

And what about the PGP key option? It’s not mentioned in the doc at the
moment. Shall we add it there?

#5 Updated by intrigeri about 11 years ago

Description updated

#6 Updated by intrigeri about 11 years ago

sajolida wrote:
> Seeing the context, the sentences could be the same on both sides.

OK.

> Reusing the one currently in the doc would already make it less
> defensive.

This could be a first great step, but it does not fully address the concerns I raised when creating this ticket.

> Do you think we should make it more explicit that most
> reports without email addresses are useless?

Yes, that’s exactly what this ticket is about :)

> And what about the PGP key option? It’s not mentioned in the doc at the
> moment. Shall we add it there?

No idea, and this looks very much off-topic here.

#7 Updated by BitingBird about 11 years ago

https://tails.boum.org/doc/first_steps/bug_reporting/index.en.html#index4h2 mentions GPG option. It’s not very detailed, but it’s there :)

#8 Updated by sajolida about 11 years ago

Title: Put it more clearly that most bug reports without an email
address are useless

#9 Updated by Anonymous about 11 years ago

yes, this should be mentioned. but i would rephrase a bit. sometimes phrases in the doc are not very clear to me.

“Giving us an email address would allow us to contact you in order to clarify the problem. This is needed for the vast majority of the reports we receive as most reports without any contact information are useless. On the other hand it also provides an opportunity for eavesdroppers, like your email or Internet provider, to confirm that you are using Tails.”

#10 Updated by sajolida about 11 years ago

related to ~~Feature #7180~~: Remove the right pane of WhisperBack added

#11 Updated by sajolida about 11 years ago

Subject changed from Put it more clearly that most bug reports without an email address are useless? to Put it more clearly that most bug reports without an email address are useless
Assignee set to alant
% Done changed from 0 to 50
Type of work changed from Discuss to Code