Discussion

We definitely should improve error messages in any cases, see playground.bonfire.cafe/coor...

It's a matter of opinion, but "technical errors should be logged, but not shown to people" seems to be a practice coming from software as a product/service, I wonder if that applies as much to "software as a tool"?

We've indeed seen and discussed that article 😊 It has some good suggestions though seems mostly focused on errrors related to user input (like in forms, which is something we could/should quite easily improve in Bonfire).

I'd also like feedback on how we could improve messages related to unexpected or general errors, such as due to or untested edge case. For example:

• You seem to have provided an incorrect data type (eg. an invalid ID)
• You seem to be referencing an invalid object ID, or trying to insert duplicated data
• The data provided caused an unexpected error and could do not be inserted or updated
• The data provided seems invalid and could not be inserted or updated
• Invalid arguments passed
• The function post/2 in module Posts didn't receive data in a format it can recognise
• A function didn't receive data in a format it could recognise
• A with condition didn't receive data in a format it could recognise
• A case condition didn't receive data in a format it could recognise
• A condition didn't receive data that matched a format it could recognise
• Could not complete this action
• Could not complete this request
• The app encountered an unexpected error
• An exceptional error caused the operation to stop
• An exceptional error was thrown
• An exceptional error occurred
• Something went wrong
• Oops, this resulted in something unexpected
• You need to log in first
• Not found
• You do not have permission to [...]
• We couldn't find an account with the details you provided
• This site is by invitation only
• This link or token has expired, please request a fresh one
• This link or token was already used, please request a fresh one if necessary
• This token was not found, please request a fresh one
• This user account is disabled. Please contact the instance administrator
• Please confirm your email address first
• Reset your password to login
• User not found
• Could not delete
• Bad request: malformed header
• Unknown resource

You'll notice many of these are similar, but because they for different reasons wording them differently helps us identify the problem when reported.

This should now be fixed :)

Apparently Silicon Valley is seeing a dot com crash coming?

You can add a link like this

Yeah we definitely need to add proper sorting and filtering options!

There's nothing like the joy of seeing a brand new error when debugging something.

I think your observation may have to do with privacy? If using a pseudonym one can't share too many details about their personal life or local area for fear of getting doxed, and if using one's real name there's the need to preserve the agency and privacy of the people close to you (I think the fediverse has so far followed Twitter as opposed to Facebook, in that most people are connected to a different, mostly virtual, social network with little overlap with the one they participate in physically, so it may feel strange to talk to about them with "strangers" rather than with them). In both cases, I think there's a tendency to compartmentalise one's public identity on social media and only post about certain topics.

I hope Bonfire extensions like Topics and Circles & Boundaries (and Groups soon) can help address some of these. Not just as a technical "solution" but in meeting some unmet needs for more people and hopefully make federated social networking more integrated with the full spectrums of our social/political/economic/communal lives...