Filing a new support request¶
Important
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So, you are going to file a new support request. Before you proceed, you should look at existing tickets in order to find similar requests who fit your needs. You can do so by looking at support requests page. This task is very important and helps a lot in order to avoid to duplicate efforts. Remember, it is always a win choice to spend some time here before attempting to insert a new ticket.
Where to Practice¶
If this is your first time with support requests and you do not feel too confident with Launchpad support tracker, you can use the Launchpad staging server where you can insert and modify tickets as you like. It provides the same environment you will find in the real world production Launchpad, but it is wiped and updated with the production server data periodically, so every operation you are going to make will be gone for good next time a sync will be executed. Feel free to try it out!
Filing the support request¶
You can add a new ticket by clicking the Request Support link on the
top left edge of the page. A form will be displayed which asks you a
summary, which will be used as an initial subject of your ticket.
Try to follow these rules:
Be concise
Focus your question in a few words
Avoid espressions such as “help me” or “I have got a problem” without any clue about the real matter
Once you have provided a summary and clicked the Continue button, you
will be showed a list of tickets which resemble your summary. If you did
not search similar tickets before, this is the right time to do it. If
no ticket matches your request, provide a detailed description of your
problem and click the Continue button.
Your ticket has been inserted and everyone can post a comment or an
answer. That ticket will be marked as Open in the support tracker
page.
Managing support requests¶
Once a support request has been inserted, it is possible to make a lot of things on it. Here is the main ones:
Posting comments¶
When selecting a support request, a text box is shown at the bottom of the page where you can insert your feedbacks about the given ticket.
You can also insert URLs by providing full address (such as
http://launchpad.net) or bug reports (with the syntax bug #number),
even if the best way to do so is by linking it through the apposite
function as stated below.
There are three types of feedback a user can submit:
Additional information¶
If you are ticket’s reporter, you can provide additional informations by
inserting a detailed description in the text box and pressing the I'm
Providing More Information button.
Information and answers proposals¶
If you think so, you can ask the reporter to provide more informations
on a given ticket by inserting your motivation in the text box and
pressing Add Information Request. That ticket will be marked as Needs
info in the support tracker page.
If you are able to give an answer proposal to a given ticket, you can do
so by inserting a detailed description in the text box and pressing the Add
Answer button. That ticket will be marked as Answered in the support
tracker page.
Closing tickets¶
If you are ticket’s reporter and you have received sufficient feedbacks
to satisfy your request, you are encouraged to close that ticket. You
can do that by providing a detailed description of the procedure
followed to solve a specific issue and clicking the I Solved my Problem
button.
If one or more users posted an answer, you can choose which one solved
your problem by clicking the This Solved my Problem button located in
the given answer box.
This way user who posted that answer proposal will be marked as the one who solved that ticket.
Once a ticket has been closed, it no longer remains in pending requests
pool but it is marked as Solved. This helps new users a lot because
they can find a solution quicker than inserting a new ticket.
Linking existing bug¶
The best way to report the existence of a bug report related to a ticket
is by clicking on Link Existing Bug on the top left edge of the page.
You will be asked to insert the number of the bug you wish to link. By
clicking the Link button, a new box will appear on the right of the page
which lists the bugs currently linked.
Once a bug is linked, you can remove it by clicking on Remove Bug
Link. You have to select which bug(s) you want to remove and click the
Remove button.
Editing requests¶
If you ever need to modify the summary or the description of a support
request, you can easily do so by clicking on Edit Request.
Here you can specify a new summary which best describes a given ticket or edit its description. This way you can fix typos too: some tickets are redundant because reporters chose to open a new request in order to fix such errors.
If you think a ticket should be assigned to a specific package, you can
modify it by inserting the chosen one directly in the text box on the
bottom of the page or by clicking the (Choose...) link on the right,
where you will be able to search among the package list in order to find
the right one.
Reopen requests¶
If you previously closed a ticket and you feel the need to reopen it,
you can do so by inserting a valid reason to do so and clicking the I'm
Still Having This Problem button. That ticket will be marked as Open
in the support tracker page.
Support contacts¶
Support contacts users receive a copy of new tickets, comments, answers
and every event generated by the support tracker. Anyone can join
support contacts by clicking on Support Contact link on the top left
edge of the page. Users who are support contacts have some additional
abilities in support tracker management.
Rejecting tickets¶
Support contacts have the option to reject tickets by clicking on
Reject Request on the top left edge of the page. They will be asked to
provide a short description meant to explain why that ticket should be
rejected. That ticket will be marked as Invalid in the support tracker
page.
There are situations where you are encouraged to reject support requests such as:
Duplicate tickets (by reporting a valid one)
Test tickets
Offensive content
Sometimes it is not advisable to reject a request, e.g. a user placed an heavy critic about a feature she do not like (see ticket #1601).