What Does This Bug Report Mean?

A bug report just came in from a client I’m responsible for at work. It reads:

…Main menu – home page – The ‘g’ of outstanding debts is permanently underlined.
Correct.

I’m not even sure what this message means. It looks like the client is telling me that the letter ‘g’ at the end of the word “outstanding”, which appears in the main menu of the software I’ve been writing for him, is underlined. I’m pretty clear on this bit of his message (although I’m as-yet unable to get the same effect on my own computer). What I want to know is, what does he want?

Is he saying that the letter ‘g’ is underlined but that it shouldn’t be? Or that it’s correct that it’s underlined (in which case, why is he filing a bug report?). Or is he asking, in a convoluted way, for it to be made to be permanently underlined (in which case: why – it doesn’t seem to make any sense?).

What a great start to the New Year’s work.

6 comments

  1. Ruth Ruth says:

    I think it means that your client is bad at communicating.

  2. James James says:

    Is the “Correct” meant to a be an imperative? ie “Please correct this”.

  3. James James says:

    Actually having re-read your interpretations you’re right. I’m just as confused as you!

  4. The Pacifist The Pacifist says:

    I’m going with “correct” to mean “fix.”

  5. The way I understand it the g should be struck through, not underlined. If that doesn’t work try making it bold, italicised, a larger or smaller font, a different type face or colour. perhaps even a different letter. Just keep it going through the year. Perhaps you could write a program to automatically change the appearance of that g at ‘random’ intervals.

  6. Claire Claire says:

    I like Matt’s solution, but I think he means that you should make in not underlined. “Correct” is an instruction, as Paul suggests.

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