"Issues Knowledge Base", a better place to show common issues [Proposal and call for (little) help]

[Darío Andrés]

Dear KDE Team:
[if you don't want to read all the mail, there is a short version in the end]

In order to reduce the amount of incoming bug reports I planned to
reorganize the Bugzilla Enter bug page.
The overall idea is to:
- Show a list of common, important or long-standing (and too much
reported) bugs (*)
- Redirect the user to places where they can ask for support / confirm
it is a real/unknown bug (Forums, IRC/WebChat)
- Show more ways to get support
And, also show other valuable resources; like Brainstorm(@Forums) for
ideas, and ReviewBoard for patches

Here is a mockup: http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/299/59735617.png
(it needs better wording)

(*) The list of common bugs was born as "Issues Knowledge Base" (aka
"IKB"), currently on UserBase:
http://userbase.kde.org/Issues_Knowledge_Base
The purpose of this base is to have a quick, clean, short, and
user-friendly list of common bug reports. It shouldn't grow to much to
become unmaintainable..
You can find a reference on how to create the base items at
http://userbase.kde.org/Issues_Knowledge_Base#References
It should contain a brief and concise description of the bug, the
affected versions, the version the bug is fixed, and a reference to
(one or more) report(s) on bugzilla.
If the bug doesn't have a centralized bugreport, but there is a
solution or workaround, it may be added too. (example: "Plasma crashes
when updating to KDE SC x.y if using unofficial widget Z. Solution:
recompile/update the Z widget")

Now, it is time to request a little help: I have already added the
main issues I have encountered in my bugtriaging work in the past
months (issues affecting KDE SC 4.3 and 4.4); both using my memory and
the duplicates listing of bugzilla.
I would like the developers (or specialized/advanced users) to check
if any other important entry is missing, to add it to base.

Also, this changes would include the removal of the bugzilla wizard
(which was already planned before this) (replaced by a new entry form:
https://bugs.kde.org/enter_bug.cgi?format=guided ,
https://bugs.kde.org/enter_bug.cgi?format=guided&product=plasma ), and
the rework of the "Report Bug" kdelibs dialog (to not use the wizard
and to remove the, oftenly deprecated, applications list)

I'm going to evaluate including a reference (or embedded browser
version) of IKB inside DrKonqi too.

That's all ...

I would also like to get some feedback (several developers already
told me it is an useful idea). The overall concept may be improved.
I know this may involve a little information duplication, but,
honestly, most of the bugzilla bug reports aren't human readable.
There aren't explicit ways to show common bugs in an ordered way with
explicit affected versions, or "fixed since ...". (may be tweaking the
duplicates.cgi page....; but that will require more work and bothering
mattr)

Hope this can be useful, and I hope you can check the list.

Sincerely,
Darío Andrés R. (BugSquad, DrKonqi)

##Short version:
Help filing the Issues Knowledge Base
(http://userbase.kde.org/Issues_Knowledge_Base) with common/important
bugs in a user-friendly fashion. Thanks in advance