diff --git a/docs/contributing.rst b/docs/contributing.rst
index 1653ff352..d227b223e 100644
--- a/docs/contributing.rst
+++ b/docs/contributing.rst
@@ -41,6 +41,10 @@ guidelines when reporting a new bug.
   reproduce the bug, so please include all relevant files required to reproduce
   it.
 
+* include the output of ``scrapy version -v`` so developers working on your bug
+  know exactly which version and platform it occurred on, which is often very
+  helpful for reproducing it, or knowing if it was already fixed.
+
 Writing patches
 ===============
 
diff --git a/docs/topics/commands.rst b/docs/topics/commands.rst
index 418648c8e..6b30a4e59 100644
--- a/docs/topics/commands.rst
+++ b/docs/topics/commands.rst
@@ -413,10 +413,11 @@ Example usage::
 version
 -------
 
-* Syntax: ``scrapy version``
+* Syntax: ``scrapy version [-v]``
 * Requires project: *no*
 
-Prints the Scrapy version.
+Prints the Scrapy version. If used with ``-v`` it also prints Python, Twisted
+and Platform info, which is useful for bug reports.
 
 .. command:: deploy
 
diff --git a/scrapy/commands/version.py b/scrapy/commands/version.py
index 4d4557357..ef39f69fa 100644
--- a/scrapy/commands/version.py
+++ b/scrapy/commands/version.py
@@ -1,10 +1,29 @@
+import sys
+import platform
+
+import twisted
+
 import scrapy
 from scrapy.command import ScrapyCommand
 
 class Command(ScrapyCommand):
 
+    def syntax(self):
+        return "[-v]"
+
     def short_desc(self):
         return "Print Scrapy version"
 
+    def add_options(self, parser):
+        ScrapyCommand.add_options(self, parser)
+        parser.add_option("--verbose", "-v", dest="verbose", action="store_true",
+            help="also display twisted/python/platform info (useful for bug reports)")
+
     def run(self, args, opts):
-        print "Scrapy %s" % scrapy.__version__
+        if opts.verbose:
+            print "Scrapy  : %s" % scrapy.__version__
+            print "Twisted : %s" % twisted.version.short()
+            print "Python  : %s" % sys.version.replace("\n", "- ")
+            print "Platform: %s" % platform.platform()
+        else:
+            print "Scrapy %s" % scrapy.__version__