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Development Update - 7/30 Non-work related, but... it's Friday night, and what am I doing? Downloading SC2 because my CD doesn't work! So what better way to pass the time than to write a journal entry about the stuff that is going on in development? Spring Cleaning Stuff The new preview widget for marketplace / stores went out today -- it should making shopping for a new outfit much easier. Some bugs in it (primarily with handheld items) that we'll have to iron out over the next few weeks, but the reaction in SF seemed pretty positive. You can give your props to ania1899, who really took this project the entire way on top of her other duties. Also, the Guilds Homepage Revamp should be out next week. Unfriending was fixed insofar that if you remove someone from your friend list, you are also removed from their friend list. However, there are still a lot of incorrect (i.e., one-way) relationships that need to be cleaned up. We've had a slow job going through records and cleaning them up, but it will still be a few weeks before everyone has been fixed. Summer Event To answer a question that everyone is asking: yes, a summer event is coming, even if every single developer on the events team gets dysentery. I can't reveal any details, although if you hunt around you will find some clues. Lifecycle of a Bug So, how does a typical bug make its way from user report to fix? First, it needs to get into the bugbase. Often, a moderator notices it, and puts it into a forum thread. Someone in QA (Quality Assurance) tries to reproduce the bug, and if they can get it to happen consistently, enters the bug into our bugbase -- we use one called Flyspray. At any time we have a fair number of bugs in the bugbase, and developers pull from the bugbase as they have time or if they're in a feature anyway. They check the bug fix into a branch of code -- basically a snapshot of the Gaia code base. (We use git for our source code). When the bug is fixed and the developer is satisfied that it works, he or she submits a patch -- basically, a list of code changes that will fix the problem. Every day or so, QA gathers a bunch of the patches together and tests them, both manually and with a set of scripts that make sure that the site is valid. Once they've verified that it works, the developer will push the bug fix out to the main site. We usually push at least 3-5 times a day, potentially more. The Complexity of Bugs Getting the bugs into the bugbase is often problematic, for a number of reasons: - intermittent bugs are often difficult to reproduce. Database errors may be caused only by a certain sequence of database calls from different users, or particular load conditions. - some bugs may only be reproducible on certain versions of browsers, on certain platforms, or with certain configuration values. We ran into one bug recently with private messages that was caused by a plugin in Firefox. - it can often take a substantial amount of bug to try and work with people to figure out exactly what is causing the bug I think it would be great to get to the point where a user reporting a glitch is given a ticket ("hello, your ticket is bug #987-A" wink ; this opens the door to notifications about status ("hello, your bug was just fixed!" wink . But it is an enormous amount of effort to try and consolidate the bug list and keep it up to date. I keep wondering whether there is a technological solution that could make it work better; systems such as UserVoice are interesting. If anyone has seen a good system on another site, I'd love to hear about it in the comments.

Posted by: Panagrammic Sat Jul 31, 2010 @ 09:35am

Read my journal!

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Genea
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Commented on: Sat Jul 31, 2010 @ 10:16am


	Sounds good to me. 3nodding Keep the fixes coming! <3

Commented on: Sat Jul 31, 2010 @ 10:50am


	New Marketplace and shops preview widget~ Thanks so much to ania1899 and to anyone else who helped with it. This greater flexibililty is amazing. heart Good job on the Guilds Homepage and Unfriending, as well. Those both sounded like kinda major projects, so it's great to hear that they are nearing completion. I hope the new Trades page comes out soon, too; the mockup looks so great. 3nodding Do you think we'll see a fix-a-thon like this in the future? As a user, it was great to see the developers interact with us and take our ideas and make them happen. I imagine it was a lot of stress on your team, though, to be the focus of so many Gaians' hopes and dreams for that span of time. Did you feel like the fix-a-thon was your team's version of an Evolving Item? xd I am eager to see the summer event. I hope I don't die of dysentery, though. You didn't mention your new thread in Dev Updates in the Journal, but I think that's another great new thing. I've subscribed, and I'm impressed that it's already been updated several times. Keep up the great work. mrgreen Thanks for explaining some more about bugs, too. I'm often hesitant to create a new thread in the Bugs forum, so I just add to an existing thread when I find something not working correctly. Is it more helpful for your team if I create my own thread? I do add in my system and browser stats, because you've mentioned you may need that information to reproduce the glitch. On a related note, is it acceptable to continue to bump a thread in Bugs until it gets resolved or at least has an answer from a developer? I've had some problems with Achievements, and I've posted in Bugs and in the SF Sticky (that came unstickied), but I don't want to be that annoying Gaian who's always complaining about her issue. redface On the other hand, it sounds a bit like, under the current system, the squeaky wheel is the one that gets the grease, so perhaps I should be more persistent. Thanks for another informative update. You and your team work so hard for Gaia; it's always impressive to see how much you've accomplished.

Chocobo Princess
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Armageddon Majesty
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Commented on: Sat Jul 31, 2010 @ 11:01am


	I'm glad I subscribed to your journal, it's nice being in the know with what you guys are doing ^___^ Just wanted to say thankyou very much for the MP previews update! You've made it so much easier to try on mass amounts of items for people (ie RIG days) wihout getting nekkid. xDD Wondering, is it going to be possible to preview items sitting down? Just curious~ (: Also thankyou for working on the unfriending thing! So from now on both parties will be removed from each others lists? Yay! And you said you're going through records and cleaning up, does that mean your intention is to fix all the one-way unfriending's that have occured before now as well? Because that would be absolutly tops, seriously~ <3333 I'm really looking forward to the summer event too (even though it's winter here XDD), keep it up you guys, thankyou so much! <3

Commented on: Sat Jul 31, 2010 @ 01:46pm


	As always, thanks for keeping the users informed of what's going on behind the scenes. We appreciate being kept in the loop as much as possible. 3nodding I'm extremely glad to see that the new preview's handheld problems are glitches and will be worked on; that's really the one thing that's holding me back from being out-and-out positive about the update. About unfriending -- some other members and I have already mentioned it in the official fix thread, but I was hoping maybe you could help shed some light on it. With the cleaning up of lists, one-way relationships with NPCs were also deleted. (Which includes NPCs that it's no longer possible to friend, like Gambino.) Is there any way to restore these, or give us a grace period in which we can refriend them? I feel a little sad that they're no longer on my list. emo And I guess while I'm here asking questions... is there any word on what's going on with Daily Chance? I was totally stoked to see that "DC fixes" was mentioned in your Site Changes thread, only to have it later clarified as a JS error and not the Sunflower/House Fly/Crumpled Zerox Paper Goldenrod/Pancakes/Neutral Starter Polo non-chance issue that's been going on for months. Is that ever going to be fixed so that we can get other flowers/bugs/trash again, or will it stay the way it is until whenever the new non-Social Daily Chance is released? I'm looking forward to the summer event! <3

Valentine
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Elinoire
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Commented on: Sat Jul 31, 2010 @ 02:36pm


	You guys have been doing a great job! I personally really appreciate all the work that has been put into these updates. Ooh, I can't wait for the Summer event c: Keep up the good work everyone <3

Commented on: Sat Jul 31, 2010 @ 03:29pm


	Thank guys for the hard work! The market and stores widget is amazing. Unfriending is very helpful just I wish it didn't remove the NPCs as well crying .Can't wait for the event I will search for clues.

MrsrachaelSnape
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The Zorya
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Commented on: Sat Jul 31, 2010 @ 04:14pm


	Thank you so much for new MP. It's pure impulse shopping love. And just hearing that guild homepage will be updated next week makes my pixel heart beat faster. Just like ,oh so awaited summer event [I have no worries that it will interfere with school since mine starts in middle of October]

Commented on: Sat Jul 31, 2010 @ 06:05pm


	Interesting Update. Could the "fly spray section" not be a user accessible list where users can log into it and mark certain ones to say that they are also experiencing the problem so that way you'd generically gain a sense of priority? Just an idea. Though on a similar note, I know I've personally experienced problems with the flash sections of the site such as homes and towns, and fishing happens to be very problematic as-well. Something like.. I have bait in my inventory, though when I go to fishing the bait either doesn't show up, or does and is simply unclickable. Meh. I happened to keep up to date versions of Explorer, Safari, and Chrome on my machine nowadays though so I do occasionally simulate the bug under a few different conditions to make sure my complaints are accurate. As for good feedback systems on other sites I'm at a loss. The main other sites I visit regularly are places like elfwood and the OzTaku forums, neither of which give a dam about user opinion as much as gaia seems to. Quite enlightening though. I've got a whole lot more respect for the bug-fixer-up-er-as after reading all that. +The new updates are lookin' wonderful. Can't wait for the guild home-page re-vamp! ~Brazekool

Felkyr
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PHARA0H
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Commented on: Sat Jul 31, 2010 @ 08:26pm


	Quote: "To answer a question that everyone is asking: yes, a summer event is coming, even if every single developer on the events team gets dysentery. I can't reveal any details, although if you hunt around you will find some clues." I love the new marketplace/shopping widget! Thumbs up! Although I am REALLY looking forward to the Summer Event, I would prefer it if the developers stayed healthy. I mean, we'll need more "cleanups on Aisle 7" down the road... biggrin

Commented on: Sat Jul 31, 2010 @ 09:22pm


	Quote: I think it would be great to get to the point where a user reporting a glitch is given a ticket ("hello, your ticket is bug #987-A" wink ; this opens the door to notifications about status ("hello, your bug was just fixed!" wink . I imagine this would be a database nightmare, considering that Site Feedbooze reports bugs en masse. It'd be just like when we first got the "Notice" feature added to Gaia, only the database would have to feed the same bug notice to 3000 people (instead of just one or two thread notices per instance). I imagine that Gaia's database team never gets sleep the first five days after a thread-heavy feature is released.

Gabriel Faust
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Dlen Isolde
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Commented on: Sat Jul 31, 2010 @ 10:48pm


	I have to tell you I LOVE the new MP/Shop Preview update. What a wonderful job. I need to go over to ania1899's profile an thank her. I'm glad to hear the Hand Pose non-preview is a glitch and is being worked on. It was the ONLY thing about it that bothered me. Everything else was sensational. I'm looking forward to the Summer Event. I know it's been difficult getting it out. But I'm sure all the tender loving care it's been getting in development will mean it's going to be awesome. I LOOOOVE when you explain the behind the scenes work. It helps to know how things like finding and fixing bugs work. I think the one thing that worries people the most is when they have an ongoing problem and they don't seem to be getting noticed. Like the issues with the Garage and now the recent "Drop Down Menu" glitch (which still is a problem even though Carbonphyber is trying to fix it) just to name a couple. I love seeing you or Carbonphyber posting in the threads. Both of you do a great job calming the masses when you do that. I always try and pass along your responses when trying to help others.

Commented on: Sat Jul 31, 2010 @ 11:06pm


	thank you for the new market preview, it's so handy =w= I never thought fixing a bug would be so complicated. I just thought you could just change a bit of code and--BAM! bug is fixed. xD Thank you for the hard work, team

love luna
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brilliantbluestar_0
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Commented on: Sun Aug 01, 2010 @ 06:19am


	2 Things I wanted to share: 1> THANK YOU so much for Sharing!! I could HUG you for that!! : ) 2> Bugs, sometimes it is not a real bug, true? Sometimes it is OE Operator Error. Would it be okay if someone does give an answer to our Bug question so we are not left hanging wondering? It would help a lot! Thank you again for sharing!! Very Much Appreciated!!

Commented on: Mon Aug 02, 2010 @ 02:04am


	Panagrammic, Once again thank you for an informative Journal update. Also thanks again to you and those responsible for the MP preview update. Looking forward to the other updates as well. Is there any chance of getting journal updates to show up in notices instead of under the what my friends are doing section? I almost missed your update because I tend to ignore the what my friends are doing section. It is filled with 'who cares' stuff like they changed their avi or profile. To me, the update of a journal I have subscribed to is more like the update of a thread I subscribed to. I want to see it or I would not have subscribed. smile Thanks again, David

David2074
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France Hopper
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Commented on: Tue Aug 03, 2010 @ 12:28am


	I saw the new preview widget was out in MP. Gave it a small try. It has a lot more options for sure but was quite buggy when I gave it a test run. Then again, that is to be expect as it is new. A summer event eh? That'll be interesting, since there's only one full month of summer left razz Bugs... who loves bugs? I sure don't. I bet you guys don't either. haha. I'm familiar with how bug tracking typically works, so it was neat to hear how Gaia does it. As for a ticket system, have you taken a look at Get Satisfaction? Thanks for the update on things. I've subscribed to that forum thread as well wink UPDATE: Hey Pan, just want to make you aware of a bug with journals. Apparently the system thinks this is my journal rather than yours: http://tinypic.com/r/20ptpwj/3 The randomly missing folders are private ones razz I work on a lot of secret stuff.

Commented on: Thu Aug 05, 2010 @ 09:12pm


	Since today's forums updates I can now no longer see the 2 links (Tip Jar and ...) UNDER the [Tip Post] button. So something is off in the formatting, at least for my browser. I'm using Safari. I could see everything fine prior to the forums updates pushed out about an hour ago. Thanks.

PHARA0H
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Shrimp_Man
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Commented on: Fri Aug 06, 2010 @ 05:36am


	*I am the embodiment of fear and evil* Hey Pan, I love the mp thing, but what I was wondering is why were the NPCs taken off of our lists and for those few of us that had ourselves on our friend lists were upset when we were removed after the fix. Is there any way to let us friend ourselves again? *of the House of Demonic Dreams*

Commented on: Sat Aug 07, 2010 @ 09:13pm


	Well, searching about Saas found some that could be attractive parallels Oracle Saas Guess that this one is pretty good, because in my region has a lot of promotion and is use by several companies. Salesforce This has the quality of being personal configured to the needs. And is used by Starbucks,Dell, Siemens etc...etc... Well, hope it helps and thanks again for the amazing updates.

Tantooden
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Sugar Tree
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Commented on: Sat Aug 07, 2010 @ 10:42pm


	Thanks a TON for the new Marketplace preview abilities, they're so awesome heart I'm really glad that the handheld pose works in the Gold Shops now, too. Also, thanks for explaining some of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into fixing a bug, that was really neat to learn about. And it's really nice to understand why it sometimes takes so long to fix bugs and glitches. Very much looking forward to the summer event, especially considering I missed last year's

Commented on: Thu Aug 19, 2010 @ 08:51pm


	wow

youngfr3sh1
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Detardus
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Commented on: Sat Sep 25, 2010 @ 01:19am


	Hi there. stare

Commented on: Sat Sep 25, 2010 @ 03:30am


	what who listens to that ****** b*h...er

vampires_love123
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Qwit
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Commented on: Sun Oct 03, 2010 @ 02:55am


	Oh how I do enjoy a good starcraft2 match. Hope you're enjoying it as well!

Commented on: Sat Oct 09, 2010 @ 06:20am


	Thank god, the unfriending button makes me come OFF their list too! <33 Woot, that makes me happy. Keep up the good work Gaians! <33

The_Butt_Buddies
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luckystaranime
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Commented on: Wed Oct 13, 2010 @ 01:25am


	tl;dr

Commented on: Fri Oct 15, 2010 @ 03:36am


	Nice job compiling, Panagrammic. I read your latest Dev update... do you make the comic XKCD?

katsumii
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Riku the Genie
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Commented on: Tue Oct 19, 2010 @ 02:12am


	dadada! :0

Commented on: Tue Oct 19, 2010 @ 09:28pm


	Off topic: But I can't wait to seeing you cursing on tiles whee Thank you so much for the daily updates!

Tantooden
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mbt outlet
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Commented on: Thu Oct 21, 2010 @ 12:12pm


	Blogger says makes sense, very professional. New to report! mbt outlet cheap mbt shoes mbt shoes sale discount mbt mbt shoes welcome to www.mbtshoe-sales.com!

Commented on: Wed Oct 27, 2010 @ 01:46am


	You've finally changed DC? heart Bless you....

Angelicia
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koreycabra
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Commented on: Thu Nov 11, 2010 @ 03:41am


	How did you guys let the server get so messed up? It was beyond fried. How unprofessional. I'm in college for that sort of thing, and it is just bad practice. confused

Commented on: Mon Nov 15, 2010 @ 12:44pm


	Thanks for developing this game!People who play this game appriciate it! biggrin Unfortunatly there is a bug that earns people gaia cash fast.The videos say must watch till the end.If you refresh the page or your internet page freezes when the video has been playing for about 3 seconds out of roughly 4 minutes,it says you have 1 new private message.It says you have completed the offer,although you didn't.Can you fix this bug?

COOLGUY265
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Major Ray
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Commented on: Wed Nov 17, 2010 @ 12:07am


	I HAVE 20 GOLD NOW I USED TO HAVE 50K I LOST DATA

Commented on: Thu Nov 25, 2010 @ 05:42pm


	I read it XD

Artoro
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Lovely Maxii
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Commented on: Thu Nov 25, 2010 @ 08:27pm


	seems pretty cool guy

Commented on: Thu Nov 25, 2010 @ 08:41pm


	hi its wilson shirley yes i wouldnt mind a tukey and thanks for your daily update you sent me hows y doing and what else you been doing and i guess everyone on here are complaining about the snow and how cold it is out there now but its getting even colder for the rest of the week write bck soon please

wilsonshirley
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DJ caramel
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Commented on: Thu Nov 25, 2010 @ 10:58pm


	Do u ever sleep ur journal is full

Commented on: Fri Nov 26, 2010 @ 12:25am


	nice jurnal. I soooooooooooooooo happy i finaly got pie!!!!!! crying

ningacandy
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Hazel Angel Fire
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Commented on: Fri Nov 26, 2010 @ 04:17am


	sounds hard

Commented on: Fri Nov 26, 2010 @ 07:43am


	hi sweatdrop

AngelSwagger
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yuwemino
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Commented on: Fri Nov 26, 2010 @ 09:38am


	hi there you guys nice one thanks for the info. and it's nice to know something about .. ^"^: 3nodding

Commented on: Fri Nov 26, 2010 @ 10:42am


	oh.

lolipai
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--x Mikey Boii
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Commented on: Fri Nov 26, 2010 @ 12:34pm


	TY. and hi.

Commented on: Fri Nov 26, 2010 @ 12:36pm


	thank you for the new market preview, it's so handy =w= I never thought fixing a bug would be so complicated. I just thought you could just change a bit of code and--BAM! bug is fixed. xD Thank you for the hard work, team

--x Mikey Boii
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aiyana762
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Commented on: Fri Nov 26, 2010 @ 05:03pm


	i will be posting u url=http://tektek.org/avatar/40205213]

Commented on: Sat Nov 27, 2010 @ 01:43am


	heart heart heart heart heart heart heart nice journal... impressive...

Kaishiro Kaizer Kaishin
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I Electra I
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Commented on: Wed Dec 15, 2010 @ 04:43pm


	Im not being rude or anything, But on zOMG, You can get stuck, In alot of places, Maybe you can try fixing that? I think its because when an creature attacks you And your near the border You get knocked out of the lining you can go to So you cant move. I'd appreciate it if you fixed it And if you do tell me please. Many Thanks, Lightangel786

Commented on: Fri Dec 17, 2010 @ 02:46am


	stop sending me alerts i did not even sign up for this

raptisadam7
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chanelcc50
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Commented on: Sun Dec 26, 2010 @ 09:17pm


	its not good or ........

User Comments: [49] [add]

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