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> I disagree heavily because closed issues are less visible. It takes one single extra click to include closed issues in a search. As a user/contributor, I’d f

> I disagree heavily because closed issues are less visible. It takes one single extra click to include closed issues in a search. As a user/contributor, I’d figure that’s a rather small price to pay, given that it helps maintainers handle their workload.

ocdtrekkie 6y ago
Sure, but now you're diving through an incredibly thick soup: Some of those issues might have been resolved/fixed, as closed issues should be. Others might be current issues obscured because the maintainer hates their users and closes issues that are not resolved. Instead of having a clear marker on whether or not an issue is still a problem or not, you have to read the full text of every one. It literally makes "issues" worthless as a tool for anyone but the one dude who has it in their head to do things focused solely on themselves and their needs and ignorant to everyone else. And frankly: Issues is a terrible way to manage your own workload, so doing it harms you and everyone else at the same time. Use a project board or something, there are tools designed for this. Even on GitHub itself, labels and milestones and projects all can be employed to enable reasonable project management... closing user issues without resolving them is definitely not one of them. Seriously, don't do this.
- Hackbraten 6y ago
  > having a clear marker on whether or not an issue is still a problem or not Is that a goal worth pursuing? What problem would be solved by having such a “clear marker”? > you have to read the full text of every one. Even if “closed” meant “marked resolved”, wouldn’t you (mostly) still have to read the solution to get any benefit from it?
  - ocdtrekkie 6y ago
    So, let's say your project has a bug in a feature. Someone opened an issue about it, maybe even documented a workaround of some sort, but you didn't have time to fix it, and then you closed it because you hate your users. Now I experience the issue. First place I'm going to look is open GitHub issues. I find nothing, suffer more self-troubleshooting, maybe file an issue myself, because why would I look at closed issues... closed issues are generally resolved! I end up annoying you with an extra issue report, and wasting hours of my time. If I'm lucky enough I happen to run a search that shows me the other user's report, I have no way to reopen the issue. I can maybe "me too" it, but given that you closed it already, I know you don't care. More than likely, after wasting a bunch of time with your project, I'm going to find someone else's. Even if, again, even if, your non-standard way of abusing GitHub works for you, it's going to confuse, frustrate, and annoy everyone else you interact with. Which, if you don't hate your users, you should consider a big problem.
    - Hackbraten 6y ago
      > because you hate your users In which way do you think repeatedly stating that point is going to help? > because why would I look at closed issues... closed issues are generally resolved! I fail to see how this is related. Of course you may end up wasting your time with a new report – unless you include closed issues in your search. For example, a closed-resolved issue could mean there’s a known workaround, which the user needs to apply. In that case, you have to look at that workaround to solve the issue for you personally. If you miss that closed issue and report it again, you’re going to waste your time, no matter the semantics of “closed.”
      - ocdtrekkie 6y ago
        > a closed-resolved issue could mean there’s a known workaround, which the user needs to apply. I disagree. Because a workaround is generally, and should be treated as, temporary. Which means there should still be an open issue tracking the fact that your software has an unresolved issue.

ocdtrekkie 6y ago

Sure, but now you're diving through an incredibly thick soup: Some of those issues might have been resolved/fixed, as closed issues should be. Others might be current issues obscured because the maintainer hates their users and closes issues that are not resolved. Instead of having a clear marker on whether or not an issue is still a problem or not, you have to read the full text of every one. It literally makes "issues" worthless as a tool for anyone but the one dude who has it in their head to do things focused solely on themselves and their needs and ignorant to everyone else. And frankly: Issues is a terrible way to manage your own workload, so doing it harms you and everyone else at the same time. Use a project board or something, there are tools designed for this. Even on GitHub itself, labels and milestones and projects all can be employed to enable reasonable project management... closing user issues without resolving them is definitely not one of them. Seriously, don't do this.

Hackbraten 6y ago
> having a clear marker on whether or not an issue is still a problem or not Is that a goal worth pursuing? What problem would be solved by having such a “clear marker”? > you have to read the full text of every one. Even if “closed” meant “marked resolved”, wouldn’t you (mostly) still have to read the solution to get any benefit from it?
- ocdtrekkie 6y ago
  So, let's say your project has a bug in a feature. Someone opened an issue about it, maybe even documented a workaround of some sort, but you didn't have time to fix it, and then you closed it because you hate your users. Now I experience the issue. First place I'm going to look is open GitHub issues. I find nothing, suffer more self-troubleshooting, maybe file an issue myself, because why would I look at closed issues... closed issues are generally resolved! I end up annoying you with an extra issue report, and wasting hours of my time. If I'm lucky enough I happen to run a search that shows me the other user's report, I have no way to reopen the issue. I can maybe "me too" it, but given that you closed it already, I know you don't care. More than likely, after wasting a bunch of time with your project, I'm going to find someone else's. Even if, again, even if, your non-standard way of abusing GitHub works for you, it's going to confuse, frustrate, and annoy everyone else you interact with. Which, if you don't hate your users, you should consider a big problem.
  - Hackbraten 6y ago
    > because you hate your users In which way do you think repeatedly stating that point is going to help? > because why would I look at closed issues... closed issues are generally resolved! I fail to see how this is related. Of course you may end up wasting your time with a new report – unless you include closed issues in your search. For example, a closed-resolved issue could mean there’s a known workaround, which the user needs to apply. In that case, you have to look at that workaround to solve the issue for you personally. If you miss that closed issue and report it again, you’re going to waste your time, no matter the semantics of “closed.”
    - ocdtrekkie 6y ago
      > a closed-resolved issue could mean there’s a known workaround, which the user needs to apply. I disagree. Because a workaround is generally, and should be treated as, temporary. Which means there should still be an open issue tracking the fact that your software has an unresolved issue.