I, for one, definitely feel that the order of operations is clear from the perspective of those seeking advice, as evidenced by the very words of the OP of the most recent topic that triggered this discussion:
Granted, from my experience I've found that it's usually edge-cases that are of the more complex sort that lead to bug investigations in the first place. This is entirely expected as the software equivalent of the combination of the adages "the road less traveled" and "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" naturally tends to be "the least used code paths yield the most issues". Major issues with common paths tend to be rare due to excessive field testing and when they do arise they are quickly met with overwhelming force. Regardless though, I do not wish for patients with rare complaints to check themselves in through the service entrance of the emergency room and head straight to the surgical wing without going through the triage process just because it might be more expedient. At scale such a practice tends to lead to chaos, overburdens the crisis teams, and cripples efficiency. Some people will still do it anyhow, given the availability, but those people are usually more proficient than your average bear and thus less likely to be burdensome and can potentially add resources to those behind the curtain.
So, my recommendations are multifaceted:
- Create the "certbotdev" group in the community for use by those providing assistance who lack the experience, comfort, or time to carry the issues directly over to GitHub. There will be some "patients" who will try to use this directly, but they will (hopefully) be well-informed patients. This is the "I need a doctor" call that requests triage by a physician rather than a nurse. This is similar to how the staff group currently operates.
- Those of us familiar and comfortable enough with our specific community resources can still, of course, call out in certain situations for clarity of a situation that may not warrant the creation of an issue on GitHub, but would benefit from the response of a "physician" with certain experience. It looks good to both the members and newcomers of the community to see your smiling faces.
- Those of us members/regulars/leaders/staff proficient and confident enough to triage for ourselves and carry an issue over to GitHub (being sure to cross-link between the two communities) can aid the certbot development team by bringing direct information and awareness with efficiency. This is the experienced nurse who isn't going to call a doctor and wait because it's bleedingly obvious to them that the patient needs to go into the exam room stat. Let the doctor apply immediate efforts within the operations and system of the back of the house rather than having to wheel the patient around and transfer all the paperwork.
Anyhow, that's my metaphor. I've created an account on GitHub aptly-named LetsEncryptCommunity. Ready for service.