Ideally there would be a much simpler method for users to give feedback on their experiences of using Ubuntu.
Especially for users like myself that use Ubuntu everyday but are not technical and do not want to become members of a community.
I found it hard to give simple feedback about my own experiences
Welcome to Ubuntu Discourse.
Users of Ubuntu, and other FOSS projects, are considered “participants”, not “customers”. Canonical gets no revenue from your use of Ubuntu. Many of Ubuntu’s efforts are led by volunteers, not by paid engineers.
Therefore, there is no “customer service department” in FOSS projects, including Ubuntu, to direct “feedback” to the appropriate team.
You, as a participant, are expected to direct your well-considered feedback to the right team directly.
This means that you must learn enough about the project to know which team(s).
Effective communication is about the message received, not the feedback sent. Think about the best way to persuade the developers who will read your message.
All development relies on user feedback and it must be possible to make it simpler to enable everyday users to give feedback.
So a specific piece of software could have feedback option built into it
Logically in the Help section
and in fact this is the case in much of the FOSS software I use on Ubuntu
e.g. In the Help section of LibreOffice and Thunderbird
In this case I was trying to give feedback on a core piece of Ubuntu software (the Software Updater) this does not have a Help or feedback option.
I made the effort to set become a forum member but even after doing this I could not find the “right” team to direct my feedback to
For software developer teams to produce effective tools they need user feedback provide simple methods for users to give feedback.
Here is a question how (where) do I give feedback on the Ubuntu Software Updater
I totally accept and in fact am proud of the fact that I am a “participant” and not a “customer” of Ubuntu and the other Linux software that I use.
I have been using Ubuntu for 20 years and want it to continue to develop be used by more users to do their everyday tasks.
basic users - people who are mostly driven by utility not technical developments
I have have found it rewarding getting involved in the process of providing and discussing feedback and I am grateful for those who have take the time to respond to me.
This is not really user friendly approach.
With my years of experience with FOSS I also have the perception of the other side and I consider Ubuntu as possible Windows replacement for less technical or non-technical people.
These people will not really be able to “learn enough about the project to know which team(s)”.
And effective product improvement is about receiving the feedback at all.
I believe there is a space for improvements in this area to make sending the feedback more user friendly without compromising its proper receival at the right team - UI for reporting could support that.
I would be happy to join ideating sessions regarding that if there were any planned.
And the discourse platform is not making things easier - actually, from my recent experience I would say it makes things even harder.
I wanted to start a new discussion about an idea I have, seen with other distro, that would be valuable in Ubuntu and for now I don’t really know how I can start a new thread, as all this “being new” makes me feel unwelcome.
Despite having Ubuntu One / Launchpad account for years, I am treated as a very fresher in Discourse, as I was simply not using it before because I had no need to.
This is just an example of struggles one can get and with that particular situation, as I am pretty determined to share my idea with the community for consideration, I am already exhausted and willing to drop the idea of sharing the idea.
I believe that making things easier for users can bring value to the whole product and it’s worth taking efforts in that direction.
@tymik and @william-wheg, I offer my honest apology to both of you for making you feel unwelcome. You are both definitely welcome.
@tymik, you are very welcome to open a new topic with your own feedback. You are also welcome to help with @william-wheg’s query on how to contribute feedback on the Ubuntu Software Updater.
@ian-weisser what I mean is the experience was poor.
I couldn’t post in the first place and I did not know what do I need to do to be able to start a new thread.
And the DM bot cannot even complete it’s own scenario properly.
I tried to pass it 3 times and finally I just skipped the bugged step.
Getting here in to post an issue is hard.
IMHO it results in less reports which makes bugs harder to discover and solve.
What I tried to suggest is taking some steps toward making submitting feedback easier to end users.
The less effort on user’s side is required, the more likely user will take some time to send feedback or submit bug report.
I am not aware of the challenges for maintainers to make the overall process simpler for users, so I’d gently like to ask for a discussion and ideation how to find a golden spot.
And for start I would recommend trying it on one’s own to start with new account and note down the steps necessary to leave feedback.
Perhaps you would find some areas for improvements?
Just to clarify - I don’t feel unwelcome - rather the process seems to be designed a couple of years ago and I think it would be good to revise it and think of easing it.
But I also make some assumptions based on the user’s side, knowing nothing about the maintainer’s side.
I completely agree that Ubuntu Discourse should be more welcoming, more expansive, more open.
Everything you said has been said before. Including by me.
We are working on improving it. Please be aware that many of the people working to improve the Ubuntu Discourse experience are volunteers (including me). With volunteers, progress requires patience.
We invite our fellow community members to participate.
At the moment, our greatest need is for greeters: Volunteers to welcome new, misdirected users to the right platforms to ask their support questions and report their bugs.
2 posts were split to a new topic: How to report improvement feedback to Launchpad
For example:
Yesterday I ruined my Ubuntu by an upgrade. So I downloaded the current version and I made myself a new Ventoy stick. I was amazed by the new Ubuntu setup UI.
Today I got flabbergasted by the fact that no snap is working, partially the snaps don’t even appear in the app overview. When I uninstall the snap to just use apt install then the app does not find a screen…
The same after updating the app store. This situation reminds me using Deepin Linux with a Chinese app store - entirely useless.
I need to go back to my working 22.04 and doing the upgrade to 24.04 again…
Guys, this is not something for a volunteer. I guess the Canonical strategy is to get a significant market share to generate a broad customer base from.
The public need a Windows alternative NOW.
One thing what made Microsoft strong decades back was the fact that the people copied the OSes and programs and so they penetrated the market. What I experienced Yesterday is the opposite.
I can just go and try an Arch Linux. I don’t need to take care. But if the feedback is not reaching the strategists and architects Ubuntu may fail about taking a big chance.
Sorry you had, by my count, at least six bad experiences in one day.
Problem: When I release-upgraded my systems, they all worked. When I clean-installed a system recently, it installed properly. Snaps worked. The Ubuntu Software application worked. It all worked.
Elements of useful feedback: How was your system different? Why does it work for me, but not work for you?
Closing. There is no discussion about the topic of a useful feedback system for unskilled users. Topic hijacked by a bunch of unrelated complaints and unreported bugs.