Use this post as a guide to decide whether you should file a bug report in the Issue Tracker.

If you think you've found a bug, you need to verify it really is a problem. Answer these questions:

1. Are you using the latest version of CiviCRM? If not, it may have been fixed in a more recent version than you're using.

2. Can you reproduce the problem on the CiviCRM demo site? Sign in to the demo version by choosing the CMS you use here: http://demo.civicrm.org/. 

3. If you answered "Yes" to the first two questions, you might be on to something. However, you may not be the only one that has discovered the issue. 

4. Search for observations/complaints of the same problem in the CiviCRM Community Forum: http://forum.civicrm.org/ Sign up for a username and password to participate in the forum.

Tips

• In the forum, navigate to the component or area of CiviCRM (CiviEvent, CiviMember, etc.), and THEN search.
• To search, use CiviCRM language and more detail than you would in a regular search engine.
• Clearly state 1) what you did, 2) what you expected to happen, 3) what actually happened.
• To search beyond the forum, use http://civicrm.org/civisearch which lets you search everything CiviCRM – all forums, blog posts, bug posts in the issue tracker, and the manual – for information about your particular problem. 

5. If no one has mentioned your particular issue, post to the forum first by describing the problem in detail, including the CMS you're using, the version of CiviCRM, and the exact steps you took to arrive at the problem. If you saw an error code on the screen, copy and paste it in (or attach a screenshot of it). Make your instructions so clear that someone else could reproduce what you did exactly.

6. You will be notified via email when the community responds to your post with comments and questions. This feedback should help you decide whether you ought to file a bug. 

7. If it is a bug, and usually one of the CiviCRM core team will confirm if it is, you should report it in the Issue Tracker. Visit http://issues.civicrm.org/jira/secure/IssueNavigator.jspa. You will need to create an account on the Issue Tracker as well.

8. Click Create New Issue in at the top of the left panel. Fill in all the fields with as much detail as possible and submit. Copy and paste any error codes or forum posts related to your bug.

9. You will be notified periodically via email on the status of your bug as it is reviewed, worked on, and hopefully fixed. A member of the CiviCRM team may be in contact with you if they have questions.

10. Congratulations on finding a bug! Now, as a member of the CiviCRM community, you are expected to contribute to the solution. Depending on your skills and/or resources, you can submit a patch to fix the bug, hire someone else to submit a patch, or put funding towards a Make It Happen (MIH) project. (Read below for more details about MIHs.)

11. Want to start a Make It Happen project? Here’s how:

• Make it Happen projects require “seed funding” before they can be kicked off, so it’s helpful if you can come to the table with a general idea that your organization has some funds to contribute.
• Post a detailed description of the feature or improvement on the “Community Sponsored Improvements” forum board to get feedback from others in the community and gauge interest: http://forum.civicrm.org/index.php/board,32.0.html. Make it Happen projects will need to be generalized enough to be useful to a significant portion of the user community.
• Someone from the core team will generally also provide some feedback, and if community feedback is positive will also provide an estimate of the project cost.
• If there is sufficient “seed funding”, then a Make it Happen campaign will be posted and promoted on CiviCRM.org (http://civicrm.org/mih).