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Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2007 16:43:33 +0100
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Subject: "No Feedback" in bug tracker
From: tstarling@wikimedia.org (Tim Starling)

A suggestion: allow anyone to reopen bugs marked "no feedback". Also
allow anyone to switch a bug from "feedback" to "open".

The PHP bug tracker could go a long way towards liberalisation.
Community involvement seems to be actively discouraged. I'd like to see
some more sweeping changes. But I'd be content with this small change
for the time being.

A common scenario is this:

* Someone reports a bug
* An admin couldn't be bothered to reproduce it themselves, so they slap
a "use CVS snapshot" template on it, hoping it will go away
* Sometimes the reporter will install a snapshot and confirm the bug,
but more often, they couldn't be bothered.

Sometimes other people watching the bug will immediately reproduce it
with the snapshot and report their findings, but that doesn't stopped
the bug being closed "no feedback". Sometimes someone will find the bug
and reproduce it months later, but there is no procedure in place to
have the bug reopened. There aren't even any relevant contact details
available to draw the attention of admins to the bug that needs reopening.

So my suggestion is to allow the community in general to review the "no
feedback" designation.

-- Tim Starling