[arch-general] [arch-dev-public] Allow comments on closed bugs?

Xavier Chantry chantry.xavier at gmail.com
Sat Mar 13 16:09:08 CET 2010


On Sat, Mar 13, 2010 at 2:54 PM, Allan McRae <allan at archlinux.org> wrote:
>
> I do not see all reopen requests, but the need to "beg" seems overstated...
>  I do know that it is much, much easier to get a bug reopened if the request
> is clear and well justified.  A large portion of reopen requests provide no
> information to properly judge their merit in which case they are more likely
> denied.
>

The tiny size of the reopen textbox does not give a lot of freedom for
justifications either.
I think this is completely missing the point though. I don't
understand why Dan is the only developer who sees that it sometimes
makes sense to provide additional information on closed bug reports.
(update : just saw there is also Pierre)

If a bug becomes completely useless and irrelevant when it is closed,
why keep it at all ? flyspray could just delete it.
The moment a bug is closed is not the moment it becomes history, I can
see plenty of cases where one might want to look back at a closed bug
(and possibly complete or correct its contents).

Now if you (and other dev) tells me that you do see that value, but
there are more drawbacks caused by the big number of stupid arch
users, then ok... the situation is just sad.

But even then, if we consider these situations :
1) Stupid user
Either keep posting stupid comments or requesting re-open. The
developer just ignores it either way. Is there really a big difference
between the two ? We not only assume users are stupid and will flame,
but also that they will keep doing that eternally even if no one
answers ?
2) Good user
Won't post good additional informations because it's not possible. The
reopen request just does not cut it.

Anyway this is too much arguing for a relatively minor issue. Comments
on closed bugs have the potential to be useful occasionally, that's
all there is to it.
And we are just talking about a flyspray option which can be turned
on/off anytime without drawback ? It's not like it's a decision that
can cause eternal pain. When it does reach the point where a developer
is pissed off, you have your proof that comments on closed bugs is a
bad thing, and you can justify disabling this feature.

Thanks for accepting my reopening request, you can close the bug now
:) Oops, cannot be done on the ML.


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