Auto Bug Expiry on Launchpad

[Andy Buckley]

On 22/10/10 10:52, Colin Watson wrote:
> On Fri, Oct 15, 2010 at 05:00:22PM -0700, Bryce Harrington wrote:
>> In an ideal world I would agree with you, but unfortunately things
>> rarely work out that way.
>>
>> A _bug report_ is not the same thing as a _bug_.  As best it's a grainy,
>> fuzzy photo of something that *might* have been a bug at one time.
>>
>> Bug reports often are set to Incomplete if the issue is vague.  Often,
>> if the original reporter never replies to elaborate and clarify and the
>> bug is left open for months and months, someone else with a completely
>> different problem will eventually come along and, mistakenly thinking
>> they have the same problem, will add comments that don't help the
>> original reporter.  Further, they don't file a new bug report, so this
>> second bug is lost.
> 
> On the contrary, many of the bug reports that I see inexperienced bug
> triagers setting to Incomplete are in fact detailed, accurate
> descriptions of the problem, sometimes even with something approaching a
> fix attached.  The reporter merely hasn't jumped through our artificial
> hoops of confirming that the problem still exists in the last six months
> when asked by an inexperienced triager who didn't understand the
> original detailed report, and if they get bored with our constant
> pestering about it then we summarily close their bug.
> 
> This is a very poor situation, and it reflects poorly on Launchpad as a
> system and on Ubuntu as a distribution.

It's sad, but I have to agree. I don't have the time to be an active
developer, but I do try to play my part by submitting bugs... usually
about how each new release screws up power management/suspend/hibernate
again on my laptop ;) It's part of being a responsible open source user:
you try to help the people who help you.

I try to supply as much info as possible, respond to any immediate
queries... and then usually wait in silence for several months before a
"your bug will be closed due to lack of information/activity" mail
arrives. Annoying, and usually it doesn't happen at a work lull when I
have time to question the downgrading. Until Colin's comment above, I
assumed that this was an expert decision and that I had screwed up
somehow, despite not having being *asked* for more info in the
intervening time. This has happened several times, and has had exactly
the effect on me that Colin said: it's devalued Launchpad bug reports as
a useful feedback system, meaning that I now think twice about whether
it's worth reporting a bug which will just be ignored and then closed,
and makes me question Ubuntu's commitment to quality control.

I know that's not fair, and there are a *lot* of bug reports for
relatively few developers to wade through. But as a sub-devel user
experience it's not good, and I was annoyed to see this mail thread
appear about how to throw away my feedback more efficiently. There's a
problem to be solved, but unless done sensitively there is a danger of
even further disillusioning the sort of responsible users who want to
give *something* back, but can't supply the fixes themselves.

My $0.02,
Andy