Merge pull request #478 from reneeotten/description_pr_issues

Updates to contributing and Issue/PR templates

.github/CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -6,34 +6,35 @@ Python's PEP-8 closely.  We really want good, numpy-doc style docstrings,
 usable off-line documentation, and good unit tests.  A good contribution
 includes all of these.
 
-## Using the Mailing List and Github Issues
+## Using the Mailing List versus GitHub Issues
 
-If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for lmfit, please use the
-Mailing List, https://groups.google.com/group/lmfit-py.  This provides an
+If you have ***questions, comments, or suggestions*** for lmfit, please use the
+[mailing list](https://groups.google.com/group/lmfit-py).  This provides an
 on-line conversation that is archived and can be searched easily.
 
-If you find a bug with the code or documentation, use the Github Issues,
-https://github.com/lmfit/lmfit-py/issues to submit a bug report.  If you have
-an idea for how to solve the problem and are familiar with python and github,
-submitting a Pull Request on github.com would be greatly appreciated.
+If you find a ***bug with the code or documentation***, please use
+[GitHub Issues](https://github.com/lmfit/lmfit-py/issues) to submit a bug report.
+If you have an idea for how to solve the problem and are familiar with Python
+and GitHub, submitting a [Pull Request](https://github.com/lmfit/lmfit-py/pulls)
+would be greatly appreciated.
 
-If you are at all unsure whether to use the mailing list or the Issue tracker,
-please start a conversation on the mailing list.
+**If you are at all unsure whether to use the mailing list or open an Issue,
+please start a conversation on the mailing list.**
 
-Starting the conversation on the mailing list with "How do I do this?" or "Why
-didn't this work?" instead of "This doesn't work" is preferred, and will
-better help others with similar questions.  No posting about fitting data is
-inappropriate for the mailing list, but many questions are not Issues.  We
-will try our best to engage in all discussions, but we may simply close github
-Issues that are actually questions.
+Starting the conversation with "How do I do this?" or "Why didn't this work?"
+instead of "This doesn't work" is preferred, and will better help others with
+similar questions.  No posting about fitting data is inappropriate for the
+mailing list, but many questions are not Issues.  We will try our best toengage
+in all discussions, but we may simply close GitHub Issues that are actually
+questions.
 
-## Providing an Example with Github Issues
+## Providing an Example with GitHub Issues
 
-If you are reporting a bug with Github Issues, we expect a small, complete,
+If you are reporting a bug with GitHub Issues, we do expect a small, complete,
 working example that illustrates the problem.  Yes, this forces you to
 invest some time in writing a careful example.  That is intentional.   If
 you need to read certain data or have code longer than a few pages, use a
-Github gist.
+[GitHub Gist](https://gist.github.com/) and provide a link in the Issue.
 
 Please understand that the point of the example script is to be *read*.
 We may not even run your example.  Please do not expect that we know much
@@ -43,9 +44,18 @@ State the problem, including what result you think you should have
 gotten, and include what you got.  If you get a traceback, include the
 entire thing.
 
+In addition, please include information on your operating system, Python
+version and installed dependencies. You can paste the code below in your
+Python shell to get this information:
+
+    import sys, lmfit, numpy, scipy, asteval, uncertainties, six
+    print('Python: {}\n\nlmfit: {}, scipy: {}, numpy: {}, asteval: {}, uncertainties: {}, six: {}'\
+          .format(sys.version, lmfit.__version__, scipy.__version__, numpy.__version__, \
+          asteval.__version__, uncertainties.__version__, six.__version__))
+
 ## Using IPython Notebooks to show examples
 
 IPython Notebooks are very useful for showing code snippets and outcomes,
 and are a very good way to demonstrate a question or raise an issue.  Please
 see the above about providing examples.  The notebook you provide will be
-*read* but will probably not be run.
+*read*, but will probably not be run.

.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE.md

@@ -1,10 +1,29 @@
 ### DO NOT IGNORE ###
 
-If you have not submitted an issue to LMFIT before, first read https://github.com/lmfit/lmfit-py/blob/master/.github/CONTRIBUTING.md.
+If you have not submitted a GitHub Issue to lmfit before, please read
+[this](https://github.com/lmfit/lmfit-py/blob/master/.github/CONTRIBUTING.md) first.
 
-***DO NOT USE GITHUB ISSUES FOR QUESTIONS***
+In short, it says: ***do NOT use GitHub Issues for questions, it is only for bugs!***
 
-Use the Mailing list  https://groups.google.com/group/lmfit-py for questions about LMFIT.
+We are happy to help, but please use the [mailing list](https://groups.google.com/group/lmfit-py)
+for questions about lmfit. If you decide to ignore this and do post a question
+as a Github Issue anyway, your Issue will be closed and not answered.
 
-If you ignore this and do post a question as a Github Issue anyway, the Issue will be closed
-and not answered.
+However, if you discovered a bug, please proceed and provide ALL the following information:
+
+#### Description
+<!-- Provide a short description of the issue, describe the expected outcome, and show
+        the actual result including the full traceback if applicable -->
+
+
+###### Version information
+<!-- Generate version information with this command in the Python shell and copy the output here:
+import sys, lmfit, numpy, scipy, asteval, uncertainties, six
+print('Python: {}\n\nlmfit: {}, scipy: {}, numpy: {}, asteval: {}, uncertainties: {}, six: {}'\
+      .format(sys.version, lmfit.__version__, scipy.__version__, numpy.__version__, \
+      asteval.__version__, uncertainties.__version__, six.__version__))
+ -->
+
+
+###### A Minimal, Complete, and Verifiable example
+<!-- see, for example, https://stackoverflow.com/help/mcve on how to do this -->

.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 ## A good Pull Request will:
 ##  1. Follow PEP-8 as closely as possible
 ##  2. Reference Issue #
-##  3. Add at test or explain why this is not needed.
+##  3. Add a test or explain why this is not needed.
 ##  4. Consider if an example is needed.
 ##  5. Include changes to main documentation if the
 ##     API changes or a new feature is added.