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> The common practice now is to "close stale issues", which was discussed recently, though I can't find the thread. This is bad and borderline dishonest practi

> The common practice now is to "close stale issues", which was discussed recently, though I can't find the thread. This is bad and borderline dishonest practice, and it’s surprising that it’s allowed to be widespread. I wrote an edgy post about it which didn’t go far on HN but it’s a sentiment I don’t see repeated much (without the edge of course). Filed issues say something about your product or it’s documentation/UX. Bots that autoclose muddy that signal.

CGamesPlay 5y ago
Au contraire, I think they amplify that signal! It sends a pretty clear message to people who file these annoying issues as well as acts as a deterrent to would-be pests who search for an existing issue before filing.
- hardwaresofton 5y ago
  I dunno, if you want to do that it would actually be better to just send that clear message in a more direct manner -- GitHub just doesn't have good tools around this yet. Until better tooling gets here, maybe it makes sense to just very quickly ban pests, and make it clear that pests won't be tolerated? Also I want to point out that I'm totally fine with quickly closing tickets with no reproduction details or without enough information. Bad tickets should get closed if they're bad, especially if there's a template in place that the person has ignored. I would say that if 10 tickets from different people are getting filed from a specific area it may be worth looking at even if all the tickets are badly specified. In general a closed ticket with an explanation is so much more valuable over time than the alternative.
  - roryokane 5y ago
    I think CGamesPlay was being sarcastic. I interpret “would-be pests who search for an existing issue before filing” as describing good-faith bug-filers from the apparent perspective of repo maintainers who auto-close stale issues.
  - CRConrad 5y ago
    Agree with sibling that GP was sarcastic. > if you want to do that it would actually be better to just send that clear message in a more direct manner -- GitHub just doesn't have good tools around this yet. Doesn't it have the ultimate tool: If you want to send the message that you don't give a shit about bug reports, just don't activate any bug-tracking tool? (Or is it mandatory?)
- a1369209993 5y ago
  > It sends a pretty clear message No, it doesn't. If you want send that message clearly, you should state in your readme: "We don't give a fuck about bug reports, especially if they're valid and relevant.".
aasasd 5y ago
> Filed issues say something about your product Yes, it says that the product is popular enough that hundreds of people feel the need to post feature requests with notes like “how is this not fixed yet, it should be five minutes of work, it's a deal-breaker issue for me, I'm migrating to Chrome if this is not fixed!!!”
- whywhywhywhy 5y ago
  Compare browser market shares when this bug was posted and now, they did leave.
- hardwaresofton 5y ago
  Ban those people then -- no one is entitled to have their voice heard in the comments of your issues, or even to file issues on your project. Also, this comment wasn't about Firefox specifically! Just about projects that do this in general.

CGamesPlay 5y ago

Au contraire, I think they amplify that signal! It sends a pretty clear message to people who file these annoying issues as well as acts as a deterrent to would-be pests who search for an existing issue before filing.

hardwaresofton 5y ago
I dunno, if you want to do that it would actually be better to just send that clear message in a more direct manner -- GitHub just doesn't have good tools around this yet. Until better tooling gets here, maybe it makes sense to just very quickly ban pests, and make it clear that pests won't be tolerated? Also I want to point out that I'm totally fine with quickly closing tickets with no reproduction details or without enough information. Bad tickets should get closed if they're bad, especially if there's a template in place that the person has ignored. I would say that if 10 tickets from different people are getting filed from a specific area it may be worth looking at even if all the tickets are badly specified. In general a closed ticket with an explanation is so much more valuable over time than the alternative.
- roryokane 5y ago
  I think CGamesPlay was being sarcastic. I interpret “would-be pests who search for an existing issue before filing” as describing good-faith bug-filers from the apparent perspective of repo maintainers who auto-close stale issues.
- CRConrad 5y ago
  Agree with sibling that GP was sarcastic. > if you want to do that it would actually be better to just send that clear message in a more direct manner -- GitHub just doesn't have good tools around this yet. Doesn't it have the ultimate tool: If you want to send the message that you don't give a shit about bug reports, just don't activate any bug-tracking tool? (Or is it mandatory?)
a1369209993 5y ago
> It sends a pretty clear message No, it doesn't. If you want send that message clearly, you should state in your readme: "We don't give a fuck about bug reports, especially if they're valid and relevant.".

aasasd 5y ago

> Filed issues say something about your product Yes, it says that the product is popular enough that hundreds of people feel the need to post feature requests with notes like “how is this not fixed yet, it should be five minutes of work, it's a deal-breaker issue for me, I'm migrating to Chrome if this is not fixed!!!”

whywhywhywhy 5y ago
Compare browser market shares when this bug was posted and now, they did leave.
hardwaresofton 5y ago
Ban those people then -- no one is entitled to have their voice heard in the comments of your issues, or even to file issues on your project. Also, this comment wasn't about Firefox specifically! Just about projects that do this in general.