TADS 3 Technical Support
Technical support and "how to" questions
Like most free software, TADS is written by a small group of volunteer developers, not a big software company. The good news is that we haven't outsourced our tech support department to an offshore provider. The bad news is that's only because we don't have a tech support department in the first place.
While the TADS developers are always happy to hear from people using the system, they unfortunately can't always provide timely answers to technical questions. Fortunately, there's an active Internet community of TADS users who can often provide quick and knowledgeable answers to questions about programming, game design, and just about anything else TADS-related.
Here are the best bets for technical questions:
intfiction.org is the main Web forum for the IF community. There's a section specifically for TADS discussion. This has become the main communications hub for the community, so it's probably the best place to post questions.
rec.arts.int-fiction is the Usenet news group for Interactive Fiction technical discussion. This used to be the main online meeting place for IFers, but lately most of the action has moved to the intfiction.org forum. It might still be worth posting technical questions here, though, since some long-time denizens still prefer using the newsgroups.
Bug reports
The TADS Bug Database is the place to report bugs in the system. This is our on-line bug tracker, which lets you create bug reports and view their status. Please use the database to report bugs rather than sending email. We suggest that before you report a bug, you take a look at our bug reporting tips.
TADS technical blog
TADS 3 System Development is a LiveJournal blog/forum for news and discussion about the technical design of the TADS 3 system. The discussion focuses on language features, the virtual machine, the library, and the compiler and other tools. It's not meant for "how to" questions; it's for discussion about the design and evolution of TADS itself. If you're trying to do something that pushes the limits of the system, this is a good place to bring your ideas.
Note that the LiveJournal group replaces the old tads3 v-space.org mailing list, which was shut down in March of 2010.