Originally Posted by krisse

(with apologies to Jonathan Swift)

We all know ordinary mobile device users are unqualified to report bugs, and generally produce far too much white noise to discern anything useful from what they say.

As they obviously have nothing useful to contribute to the Maemo project, they should be taken out of the picture so we can concentrate on the real work of building a solid Linux platform.

The solution to this problem is clear:

People who want to buy a Maemo device should have to pass a test. Nothing complex, just the basics like "what is a repository?", "how do I become root?"... really simple stuff that everyone ought to know. Once you pass the test you'd be issued with a "Maemo licence" which would allow you to buy devices which use the platform.

Obviously this would annoy the most casual users who just want to buy a device and use it straight away without putting any real effort into it. But these are exactly the kind of time-wasters that Maemo would be better off without. Who needs all these mainstream airheads anyway, right?

So, every time someone tries to purchase an N900 they should first have to fill in a brief multiple-choice quiz to confirm their prior knowledge. We can then be sure they are capable of making a useful contribution to the community.

What do people think?

Originally Posted by krisse

If you think this is a serious propsal, I think you ought to read what I wrote again...

Originally Posted by daperl

"I see from your idiotic question, and this being your first post that you must be running for F*cktard President. Welcome! And don't forget to visit our popular 'Buy and Sell' section. We only use the best in Nigerian escrow services. Finally, would you mind taking a quick survey? We're always trying to improve forum quality, but it just doesn't work without user feedback. We know surveys can sometimes be inconvenient with a busy schedule, so thank you very much for your time. Here we go: Since you are obviously too much of an a*shole to use search, please describe how you found us?"

Originally Posted by krisse

The point I'm making is that anything which requires prior knowledge is effectively acting like a test. The obscurity and lack of user-friendliness in maemo.org and Bugzilla is acting like a test. The contempt for casual users by certain individuals on this forum is acting like a test.

Originally Posted by RevdKathy

Maemo-org is friendly. I've been many, many places on the net a hella lot less friendly and welcoming than here. It's the systems that are unfriendly. If you're new to all this Bugzilla might as well be named Godzilla for scare factor. And Brainstorm isn't much better.

Originally Posted by range

Bugzilla just takes get used to

Originally Posted by krisse

That's like saying command lines just take getting used to.

Bugzilla is simply not a viable way of collecting bug feedback from mainstream users.

Originally Posted by krisse

Bugzilla is simply not a viable way of collecting bug feedback from mainstream users.