Updated 19/04/2024 by Shads_OVO
A few months ago, I wrote a guide about how to report bugs on the OVO and Kaluza platforms. If you’ve not seen it, feel free to check it out here first.
But today however, I’ve got something a bit more special to share… So special in fact, no-one knows about me writing this yet. 
In recognition of recent events and as part of a personal goal, I’m releasing some of my top tips about bug hunting and reveal some of the magic that I pull off behind the scenes. I hope you enjoy this one!
Just as a heads up, this post is intended as humorous, so there might be a few jokes. Or not. And I know Tim will seek this out. So yes, this is totally part of my 10k points plan!
The golden rule - never give up!
Have you ever spent ages hunting for bugs, only to later realise that the only one you could find has already been reported by someone else? Yeah… I know the feeling. 
However, don’t let that put you off. The fact that you found a bug is a good thing, because you’ve actually helped to get it fixed. And even if you’ve gone an entire week of not catching anything, there’ll always be more bugs on the way. Especially if 
Eventually, you’ll land a really nice catch that no-one else has spotted. And you’ll feel great when ya do. 
Smash up literally everything with a sledgehammer!!! But try not to totally implode it!
Yup. This really is one of my main strategies. There was a time when I managed to find a profile duplicating bug in inSided which meant I was able to have The Worlds Longest Forum Profile Ever for a few weeks! So long in fact, it completely broke some of the pages. Muhahahahahaha!
And all I had to do was edit my profile and change some of the new fields that Tim added. 
Bugs like this can be absolutely hilarious and definitely made me chuckle. But while it was kinda funny to have 20 of each profile field at one point, I was careful to try and avoid smashing pages up too badly. After all, I didn’t want to implode the database!
So if you do find a funny bug, feel free to have a bit of fun with it, but try not to go too crazy. Someone will have to clean up the mess later and you don’t want to make it a nightmare! 
Unfortunately, this is also the rule I probably break far more often that I’d like to admit. One of these days I’ll remember this one…
Feel free to ask for help! We don’t bite!
Did ya find something of a rare bug, but now seem to have nightmares catching it? No worries. This happens to me a lot. If you’re ever unsure as to exactly what’s happening and don’t think you can submit the report by yourself, feel free to call in an extra pair of eyes. I’m always up for helping out where needed, and I will always ensure that you get the credit as the original finder, rather than me. I like to play fair. Which brings me onto…
Don’t be a thief! Never cheat or steal someone else’s bugs!
Bug stealing is frowned upon and it upsets other contributors. By all means, do feel free to help other people out and collaborate with bug blasting, but make sure to credit everyone involved. And if you didn’t find the bug yourself, please allow the person who did find it to submit the report.
You’ll learn more skills and earn a better reputation if you are honest. Plus, it pays to play fair. That’s also why I always credit finders when I convert threads into bug reports using my templates, so that they get the lions share of the treasure.
Be creative! Try and think about things that no-one else does.
From ingenious ways to break MyOVO with just my voice, to using and abusing features on my phone right the way through to some serious magic tricks with an overpowered Wi-Fi Router that simulates 2001 internet speeds , there’s always loads of ways to find crafty, daft, obscure and hilarious bugs all over the place. Sometimes, all you need to do is think outside the box. The sky is the limit! And if you’ve got a convenient Kaluza V2G app that shocks the Kaluza devs… You’ll definitely get some fun out of that!
The Community Moderators will always be on hand! Use them well…
I might be an evil genius, but even this artificially intelligent SkyNet Blastoise can’t do everything! 
That’s one of the reasons why moderators exist! Hehehe.
And most of all… Have fun!
If you don’t enjoy what you do, you lose motivation and it gets boring. Sometimes it’s nice to have a change of direction and do something else for a bit. After all, while you might be bored of bug hunting for one thing, you might enjoy trying to bug hunt elsewhere. It can be a great way to keep things fresh. :)
And yep, once you build up a good reputation, it also allows you to have a bit more fun and even throw some jokes into your contributions! But it probably also helps to make sure to get the right team first! I forgot that TemTem jokes only work well with the Kaluza developers, rather than OVO developers and my joke backfired! Oops… 
You never know when you might get rewards too. But that’s a secret for another time...
