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Comment by pxtail | Hacker News Reader

I won't report bugs in paid software/services because it's not my job, I'm not paid for it, I'm user of the service, not free workforce so they can reduce amount of QA staff or skip it completely. Give me a discount and then maybe, just maybe I'll think twice about reporting something. Bugs renders your soft unusable? Fine, there is plenty of competition out there who will do it right.

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A clickable link with a form (partially pre-filled) and a big banner that says if the bug is verified I get 10-25% off something AND a followup email (reiterating the offer) + tracking link, would motivate most people I know.

> because it's not my job

I've worked with people who uttered this phrase many times. You really should put this on your CV because it's an incredibly helpful indicator of character trait.

I just reported a bug on Kobo app and got a thanks and a discount on my next purchase.

I also just got a first response about a bug I reported 5 months ago,

It really depends on the author

So instead of getting a fix, you'll choose to be angry.

It is an approach, for sure.

I tell my customers that they should spend 1hr per month “improving the vendor”.

See, if you rely on a vendor, then you need them to survive. It’s a parasite-host relationship. You need to tell them what you need, and oftentimes they will bend the roadmap in favour of the most demanded features. Alternatives:

- They choose their most amusing feature,

- They choose the most lucrative feature among the new possible markets while ignoring all bugs, which is the most rational way to address bugs unfortunately,

- You don’t tell them, they don’t improve, they die / they triple the price of the product by lack of audience, and you have to migrate your data to another product.

Nice, I hope you are spending 1h per month for each customer as well advising them how the can get the most out of your service and/or improve their integration - otherwise it would seem like you are expecting unpaid work from your customers, which is ridiculous.

I hired a house cleaner. I didn't tell them what to do because figuring that out is their job. They didn't do the things I wanted and they even missed some spots on what they did do. I didn't tell them about that either. It's they're job. So I fired them and switched to another. Repeat. Maybe eventually one of them will figure it out.

You hired a house cleaner, you told him everything he needs to know, he did a good job. Next time unfortunately he arrives with broken vacuum cleaner, he has another one, smaller, less powerful takes him longer to do the job but it's still done, not spotless but it's fine, he is a nice guy, has good attitude. Another time and he arrives with faulty steam cleaner, again , work is done but takes longer, not ideal outcome. This is happening again and again, he even asks you sometimes to wiggle the cord, push some buttons and try to troubleshot, you know, improving the vendor and stuff.

So you:

A) only pay for perfection and

B) experience zero friction or cost in moving services?

I think trying to argue with the sentiment, misses the point entirely. I think we can all agree, bug reporting could use a renaissance.

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