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barbeau / gpstest

The #1 open-source Android GNSS/GPS test program
Apache License 2.0
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[meta] Stale bot considered harmful #645

Open gdt opened 1 year ago

gdt commented 1 year ago

tl;dr: The stale bot is fundamentally a wrong thing. It should be de-configured.

The stale bot is dysfunctional. Just because an issue has not had activity does not meet it is invalid or unworthy of the space it takes up in the tracker. I say this as someone who, as maintainer of an unrelated projects, aggressively closes non-useful issues. if someone who cares doesn't react fast enough, a bug can be incorrectly closed. On yet another unrelated project, I have seen issues closed, and even with commenting, not re-opened. It's fine if the maintainer decides that an issue is so speculative that it is not worth the cognitive load. I have on occasion scanned the entire issue list, asked for updates, and closed some -- especially those on which I have previously asked questions with no response. But I see zero value in timers.
barbeau commented 1 year ago

@gdt Thanks for the feedback! I hear you, stale bot can certainly be annoying. However, whether or not it's harmful I think depends on it's use with the project, which depends on the project maintainers. I personally use it to help gauge community interest in specific issues, especially those that are typically lower priority or require bandwidth that I don't have. For example, I know which issues you're continually interested in based on you keeping them alive :). It's also a reminder to me about specific issues, which I will occasionally update with new information that I obtained since the issue was opened (and mark it not stale).

Also, I personally don't consider a closed issue to be permanently closed - they can always be re-opened. If it's closed by stalebot, that means that it's gone 400 days without comment (200 for warning and another 200 then close). To me that's a reasonable gauge that there isn't anyone interested in that feature anymore. And if someone misses the window to comment, again, we will just re-open.

That all being said, I'd certainly welcome additional feedback from others on stalebot.

gdt commented 1 year ago

My perception is that I can't reopen an issue; only maintainers can. I guess the big problem is that there are incomplete bug reports that nobody cares about and ones that we all agree are valid and it's just going to take ~forever to deal with them. But it's your repo, your effort and your call.