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As indicated here, reporting a bug is not allowed or not the aim of BSE.

But is asking about a behavior in order identify if a point could be a bug is allowed ?

What I mean is the question could be a way to avoid misunderstanding of the OP or validate (or enhance) the way the (maybe) bug can be reported to the tracker.

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Well yes, but you have to be careful...

I don't think there is a good defined line here, so there is a tendency for questions asking whether or not something is a bug to get closed as a bug report regardless.

(I have seen way too many questions closed as "bug" when there is no bug anywhere.
Partially because I have seen so many bad bug CV uses, I'm predisposed to not close something as a bug until it is very clear that it is really a bug. sadly many other users, will vote as a bug as soon as it sounds like blender is not doing something like expected.)

However, this type of question is something that could be very useful. For example when asking about how a tool should function, or is ______ normal, yes I would say ask.

Here is an example:

Why does the grab tool (G) have lines and only move on edges? Is this some kind of bug? It only happens sometimes.

Tell me in the comments below what you would do with a question like that. (wow that sounds like something from a youtube video)

Ok, for one the question is unclear (like many that are insta-closed as bug) but it sounds like blender is messing up. We all know that pressing G should let you move anything anywhere.
Yet this is not a bug, but rather a (possibly a) new user not knowing what double pressing G will do. That OP entered edge slide without realizing it. Thats all (in my fictional example) no bug, everything is working as it is meant to, just a new user not knowing what is really going on.

Is that type of question allowed? definitely. (Just please ask a better question and make it as clear as possible.)
Would that type of question get closed? probably. If not as a bug (incorrect reason) then as unclear, at least until somebody edits and makes it better.

I would prefer if the title said "Is it allowed to ask if a behavior is normal?" Then it would be a 100% yes, but for some reason you stick "bug" in a question and that changes how people see it.

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  • $\begingroup$ Yes, i could have asked "Is it allowed to ask if a behavior is normal?" or "... as we should expect?", but telling about bug seems much more clear about the point here. This question in the Meta was inspired by this one in BSE blender.stackexchange.com/questions/57520/… as a concrete example ('bug' here is not so simple as lamps have a specific geometry). We can talk about an expected behavior (?), or a regress (if we could find an earlier version which does not behave the same). ... (see below as too long here) $\endgroup$
    – lemon
    Commented Jul 10, 2016 at 17:32
  • $\begingroup$ (following of the previous comment) ... If we think about a better accuracy for reporting (or not) such a thing, and avoid to pollute the tracker with unneeded reports, which is the best place to do it (BSE, Meta, others) ? Thanks @David for this answer, I prefer to have some other opinions before accepting it. Please feel free to tell if the question needs an edit for a complement about the idea behind. $\endgroup$
    – lemon
    Commented Jul 10, 2016 at 17:32
  • $\begingroup$ I couldn't agree more with that 3rd paragraph! $\endgroup$
    – PGmath
    Commented Jul 12, 2016 at 2:02
  • $\begingroup$ @lemon meta works a bit differently then the main site. You don't ever have to accept an answer here. For some questions (say discussions on how the site should look) there is no answer that should be accepted. $\endgroup$
    – David Mod
    Commented Jul 12, 2016 at 3:39

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