I probably don't need to tell you that we have a lot of bug reports.
Thousands. And frankly, the way we've managed them just hasn't been very
efficient. They rarely get categorized, and when they do, they often get
miscategorized. Many bugs in our backlog have been fixed (or made
obsolete by a revamp) and are still unresolved, making it much harder to
effectively hunt for good bugs to fix.

I've just rolled out some changes meant to simplify the bug process.
While you'll notice in syntax displays that there are many new commands
available, the ones that you're used to should still work just as they
always did. Please note that this is a complete rewrite of our bug
system, so there may be occasional weirdness. Just let me know if you
feel that something's not working as it should.

A few things HAVE changed from your perspective, however:

- All bugs older than 12 months have been deleted. While I encourage you
to check out your personal list of bugs and ensure important ones
haven't gone missing, you'll find (as I did in testing) that the
signal-to-noise ratio improves dramatically. Of course, if you had a
valid bug that was deleted for being too old, you are welcome and
encouraged to refile that bug.
- It's easier to tell comments apart in bugs, and both parties get
notified when a comment is made. Bugs should be an avenue for
communication so that we can make sure we're getting to the heart of the
issue you're reporting.
- You'll no longer notice any difference when your bug is merged into
another bug. Merging shows a nice, neat thread that makes our lives
easier, and it lets us resolve a bunch of fixed bugs all at once, but it
took your bug away and left you confused about the state of your report.
Now we get the best of both worlds.
- There's a built in command for attaching a logsty or pastebin log (or
any other service) to your bug report, and I'd really encourage you to
use it when possible. BUG ### LOG <url> will set it for you.
- If the first word of your bug is a valid Skill (Sciomancy,
Domination), your bug will automatically be filed in that category.
Please make use of this as much as possible, but use it responsibly.
- You may now designate one of your bugs as the "priority" bug. This
lets us know which of your bugs is most important to you. We can see all
player priority bugs at a glance, and you'd better believe that that's
where we'll start each time we go to fix bugs.
- Finally, be aware that the BUG command is going to store a bit more
information about you, including a few of your recent commands and your
current class. This is to help us identify issues like bad aliases that
are simple to identify if you check when the bug is filed and almost
impossible to track down after the fact.

I hope you make great use of these changes. I'm confident they're going
to allow us to improve Aetolia much more effectively.

Oleis

Penned by my hand on the 2nd of Khepary, in the year 402 MA.