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Show HN: Most users won't report bugs unless you make it stupidly easy

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Show HN: Most users won't report bugs unless you make it stupidly easy

#1

Post by lakshikag »

Most feedback tools are built like people actually want to report bugs. They don’t. Unless you make it dead-simple, or better yet - a little fun.

After shipping a few SaaS products, I noticed a pattern: Bugs? Yes. Bug reports? No.

Not because users didn’t care but because reporting bugs is usually a terrible experience.

Most tools want users to:

* Fill out a long form

* Enter their email

* Describe a bug they barely understand

* Maybe sign in or create an account

* Then maybe submit it

Let’s be real: no one’s doing that. Especially not someone just trying to use your product.

So I built Bugdrop.app - It’s a little draggable bug icon that users can drop right on the issue, type a quick note, and they’re done. No logins. No forms. Just context-rich feedback that your team can actually use — with screenshots, browser info, even console logs if they hit an error.

And weirdly? People actually use it. Even non-technical users click it just because "the little bug looked fun."

I didn’t want to build another "feedback suite". I just wanted something lightweight, fast, and so stupidly simple that people actually report stuff. If you've ever had a user say “something’s broken” and then ghost you forever, you probably get where I’m coming from.

What I’m most proud of? People are actually using it. And their users? They’re actually reporting stuff. Even non-technical ones.

Would love to hear if you’ve faced similar problems, and if this feels like something that would’ve helped in your own projects. Not trying to sell you anything — just sharing something I built to scratch my own itch.

Re: Show HN: Most users won't report bugs unless you make it stupidly easy

#3

Post by LanceJones »

Congrats on shipping!

Here's some quick feedback -- hope it's useful:

1. Is the little bug icon sufficiently visible? I'm not sure...

2. Do visitors automatically know what to do with the bug? You have a tooltip, but do all visitors know what "Spotted a bug?" means?

3. [more of a suggestion; perhaps it does this already] Would be great if the bug position pulled in a CSS class or the content surrounding the "dropped" bug -- to give more context to the site owner.

Re: Show HN: Most users won't report bugs unless you make it stupidly easy

#4

Post by mmsc »

The difficulty in reporting a bug comes from the friction required to filter the "page doesn't work" with no further explanation reports, or the "my neighbour is a spy for the government and I have proof" reports (real types of reports for a browser company, for example, which surely exist for other places users think that "is" the internet like Facebook).

I agree that reporting bugs can be hard, but the amount of spam that follows an effective open form, of craziness to uselessness, outweighs the useful bug reports.

Having two types of reports: one which is a simple screenshot taker with the ability to draw a circle over what is wrong, and one which is a more detailed report, would be useful.

Some LLM that filters out what is a useless report be a useful report would be good, too.

Re: Show HN: Most users won't report bugs unless you make it stupidly easy

#5

Post by graypegg »

I love the UI concept. Being able to point at a broken thing rather than try to uniquely describe the position/state/path to a broken thing is smart!

Hooooever, "bug" could be a bit ambiguous to a lot of people. Looks like in a real deployment, you have a little tooltip that says "Spotted a bug? Drag me there!". That makes sense to developers and the like... but those are also the sorts of people most likely to write a good bug report anyway. The people most unlikely to write a bug report are the sorts of people who will read "spotted a bug" as "there is an insect... game?... on this site?".

"Issue" or "Problem" would be better, but keep the bug graphic! It's cute. :)

Re: Show HN: Most users won't report bugs unless you make it stupidly easy

#7

Post by pxtail »

I won't report bugs in paid software/services because it's not my job, I'm not paid for it, I'm user of the service, not free workforce so they can reduce amount of QA staff or skip it completely. Give me a discount and then maybe, just maybe I'll think twice about reporting something. Bugs renders your soft unusable? Fine, there is plenty of competition out there who will do it right.

Re: Show HN: Most users won't report bugs unless you make it stupidly easy

#9

Post by tln »

nemomarx wrote: post #2

This sounds neat! Do you have a site that describes how it's added to an existing project?

Not OP but, the website is bugdrop.app

FAQ says "The Bugdrop snippet is tiny and loads asynchronously"

So, you add a snippet of JS to your site.

Re: Show HN: Most users won't report bugs unless you make it stupidly easy

#10

Post by I_dream_of_Geni »

You write that "reporting bugs is usually a terrible experience". I find bugs ALL THE TIME, and yet, when I even try to find a way to contact ANYONE, let alone a developer, they leave no door open at all. No method, no form, no contact name, no nothing. I (along with many, I presume), actually want those companies to excel. I WANT to let them know what to fix. But, they just don't want to hear about it. Really sad I think.
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