another interesting discussion [1]... and old/stale pull requests are also discussed here now and then... not sure if this [2] is known to many ppl?!

- [1] https://marc.info/?t=153926658700001&r=1&w=2
- [2] https://github.com/probot/stale

On 10/16/18 4:16 PM, notna wrote:
> another interesting discussion [1]... and old/stale pull requests are also discussed here now and then... not sure if this [2] is known to many ppl?!
> 
> - [1] https://marc.info/?t=153926658700001&r=1&w=2
> - [2] https://github.com/probot/stale

I've encountered stalebot before. I's probably the #1 dumbest software development idea I've ever seen.

"If we didn't fix the issue, then it must've magically fixed itself."

"Let's decrease our bugcount by closing bugs whether they've fixed or not."

Stupidest, most obviously bad idea ever.

On Tue, Oct 16, 2018 at 05:10:38PM -0400, Nick Sabalausky (Abscissa) via Digitalmars-d wrote:
> On 10/16/18 4:16 PM, notna wrote:
> > another interesting discussion [1]... and old/stale pull requests are also discussed here now and then... not sure if this [2] is known to many ppl?!
> > 
> > - [1] https://marc.info/?t=153926658700001&r=1&w=2
> > - [2] https://github.com/probot/stale
> 
> I've encountered stalebot before. I's probably the #1 dumbest software development idea I've ever seen.
> 
> "If we didn't fix the issue, then it must've magically fixed itself."
> 
> "Let's decrease our bugcount by closing bugs whether they've fixed or not."
> 
> Stupidest, most obviously bad idea ever.

+1.  "If we can't fix the problem, let's just close our eyes and pretend it doesn't exist. It makes our bug count go down, so our software quality must be magically improving!"

"It's been 10 years since we were unable to fix this bug, therefore let's define it out of existence. We only fix easy problems, hard problems don't exist in our universe."

If only software development were this easy!

Sadly, and scarily, this practice is often encountered in "enterprise" projects, where managers are fixated on flawed metrics like bugcount to the point of blinding themselves to the actual condition of the code. It's the proverbial ostrich burying its head in the sand, at its finest.


T

-- 
Who told you to swim in Crocodile Lake without life insurance??

On 10/16/2018 1:16 PM, notna wrote:
> [...]

We're not going to automatically close stale pull requests, nor are we going to arbitrarily close old unfixed bug reports.

On Tuesday, 16 October 2018 at 22:18:13 UTC, Walter Bright wrote:
> On 10/16/2018 1:16 PM, notna wrote:
>> [...]
>
> We're not going to automatically close stale pull requests, nor are we going to arbitrarily close old unfixed bug reports.

Agreed, then there won't be those 5+ year old reports we can point to when an issue gets posted about on the forums and someone tells them to file a bug report.