Sometimes something isn't a bug, but has been set up in a way that makes it really hard/unintuitive to find or use. In those cases, there may be people who can explain it, but the community as a whole may still benefit from it being suggested or reported as a bug anyway. (Which is what I was talking about when I guessed at why Kim mentioned being interested in this topic.) Obviously it's not bad to check first! I just know there's been times when multiple people would recommend to someone that they'd report something they ran into as a bug and/or a whole lot of people would be running into the same issue, and everyone would just sort of refuse to report it. 
Some would worry about it being too minor an issue, others would, I guess, just expect someone else to report it and/or maybe not realize that the bug report system is set up a specific way that can't count things posted in the Help or Suggestions areas as either to-dos or notices to be rewarded when a thing gets fixed.
But hoo boy, I've seen mass accolades go out when a bunch of people actually do report the issue they're all having! It's actually kinda neat.
I don't see it so much now. I removed my "following" status from all but a very narrow, select few people and things awhile back because I'd just kinda get overwhelmed all the time, kept losing notifications I wanted to hold onto longer, kept getting more often distracted from other stuff I needed to work on, and tended to have no interest in most of the stuff that'd come up. So it's just site news, a select few topics, and very, very few people.
Oh, and there have been things I've reported as bugs or suggested having just to be told it already exists and I'd just looked in the wrong spot or something.
Once again, I don't recall specifics, but I remember that it has absolutely happened. (And actually, once or twice, it's also proved to be a consistent enough point of confusion that I ended up asked to help determine why it was being such a widespread issue. Usually, though, it's just a "you can do that this way!" to which I'm just "oh, whoops, thanks!")
Some would worry about it being too minor an issue, others would, I guess, just expect someone else to report it and/or maybe not realize that the bug report system is set up a specific way that can't count things posted in the Help or Suggestions areas as either to-dos or notices to be rewarded when a thing gets fixed.But hoo boy, I've seen mass accolades go out when a bunch of people actually do report the issue they're all having! It's actually kinda neat.
I don't see it so much now. I removed my "following" status from all but a very narrow, select few people and things awhile back because I'd just kinda get overwhelmed all the time, kept losing notifications I wanted to hold onto longer, kept getting more often distracted from other stuff I needed to work on, and tended to have no interest in most of the stuff that'd come up.
So it's just site news, a select few topics, and very, very few people.Oh, and there have been things I've reported as bugs or suggested having just to be told it already exists and I'd just looked in the wrong spot or something.
Once again, I don't recall specifics, but I remember that it has absolutely happened. (And actually, once or twice, it's also proved to be a consistent enough point of confusion that I ended up asked to help determine why it was being such a widespread issue. Usually, though, it's just a "you can do that this way!" to which I'm just "oh, whoops, thanks!")
Folklore wrote:
Yeah the point I’m making is I make a point to make sure I’m understanding the website right because that’s the difference between something the community can help with, something that can be suggested to be implemented, or something that is actually a bug
That makes sense to me
The community can be a powerful resource, and is definitely online more than me as a matter of necessity! 
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