HOWTO: Help with QA - OR - What to do when you find a bug

This set of pages is intented for two different types of users who need to get an issue resolved. It helps users understand the Drupal issue (bug) tracking system.

You want to give back to drupal without programming

The first is the situation where you are not a programmer, but you want to help with Drupal in some way. That's great! Ideally every user of Drupal would provide some assistance, though not all are able to write PHP. This guide can help you to give back to the community and help others. While there are many ways to help Drupal, this is one very important and often neglected way.

In this case, the set of "Contributor Links" available in your profile page are very handy in providing the bug bingo system which will take you to a random bug in the issue queue. If you have 10 extra minutes, spend some time clicking on "bug bingo" and see if you can improve the issue reports that you find so they are more clear.

You've been bitten by a bug and want it fixed

Eventually it happens to everyone - a bug "bites" you. That is to say, you find a problem with the way that Drupal works. This can be very frustrating. You want your bug fixed and fast, but either you aren't a programmer or you aren't savvy enough to write the code to fix this particular bug. You need help from someone else to get your bug fixed. How can you do that?

Ultimate Goal: Helping the Developers

Whichever reason you have for writing bugs or working on the issue queue your goal is simple: help the developers. Realistically there is a relative scarcity of people who can write good code. If you help make good issue reports and improve the current issues by following the advice laid out in this set of pages, you will not only make the developer's job easier you will also learn a lot about how Drupal works and will grow in your knowledge of development and coding practices. Working on issues is a great way to work your way into becoming a Drupal developer. After you have improved a few issues and started to provide minor patches you can then move onto more major changes. Proper use of the issue queue brings you respect from other users and developers who will then go out of their way to help you.