I have noticed that the user dino99 is currently very active in invalidating bugs which were submitted based on observations in an Ubuntu version which is now EOL. This may be right sometimes, but some bugs are not tied to a particular version, and hence should not be closed for that reason. This is an example where I re-opened the bug report:
Not sure how to deal with the problem. I subscribed the guy to that bug report before re-opening it, but no response, and then notifications in my inbox about a couple of other bugs which he invalidated.
Yeah ā¦ happened to me too. Same with some guy named āChris Penalverā or some-such, mass-closing bugs in the past. I think that there is a push to close old or perhaps nonrelevent bugs that were tied to EOL versions. It is inconvenient, yet ā if reopening the bugs(copy/paste relevant data) gets these old issues some fresh attention, then ā¦ might be worth it. Just donāt āapport-bugā it to a specific release version, if you can.
In #ubuntu-bugs I think we concluded that itās probably reasonable to send a polite message to this person in the first instance. Thereās a āContact this userā link on the Launchpad page. Can someone volunteer to do this please? Perhaps relay the link to this post.
Ok, I sent a message - without a link to this post, which might have offended him.
Polite? Judge for yourself; this is what I wrote:
Hi!
Iāve noticed that you have closed quite a few bugs which affect EOL Ubuntu versions. Thanks a lot for your work with that!
However, please note that even if a bug reporter used a specific Ubuntu version when reporting an issue, the issue is not necessarily specific to that version. And if not, the bug should not be closed solely due to that version reaching EOL.
I think that https://launchpad.net/bugs/1676977 is an example of a bug which you closed gratuitously. In that case the OP objected, but then you were goneā¦
So please be more attentive in this respect. If you donāt know that the issue has been fixed in later versions, at least subscribe to the bug report so you see if the bug reporter or someone else has something to say.
Personally I think there is a nicer way to handle some of those bugs: In the comment you can ask if the issue is still present in the latest Ubuntu version, and mark it as āincompleteā instead of āinvalidā. That way, if nobody reacts, the bug will be automatically closed later on.
I think itās still reasonable to assume good faith. Perhaps this Launchpad account is associated with an email address that is old and no longer read, for example.
Iām not sure what to propose next. Perhaps itās appropriate to ask the Launchpad admins to disable the account on the basis that the email address associated with it appears invalid, this personās actions are causing damage and we have been unable to make contact. Then, whether this person reactivates the account or creates a new one, we might at least have a way of making contact that works.
I know the user is a member of the forum - I tried messaging them there, but theyāve set up to not receive messages from people.
If people have tried to contact them - but theyāre making themselves impossible to contact then I would suppose as rbasak says - CC would be the next logical step and hope they can do so - if not then no real recourse other than LP admins.
As an aside I see a lot of bugs being invalidated due to Xubuntu Team membership - iirc we tried leaving messages asking them not to in the past to no avail. However, that could possibly have been another user, memory is not what it once was Iām afraid.
If you want me to move this to the CC section - let me know and Iāll do so as soon as I see that.
Christopher got me a long way with triaging a kernel bug I had with my PackardBell desktop a while back. I like his commitment to the cause and he clearly had good intentionsā¦
Is there some wiki documentation on cleaning old bugs? Itās not necessary but if people want to do it and thus make bug lists more readable and manageable then really there should be good instruction written somewhere!
@flocculant, I seem to recall he was somewhat active in the Ubuntu GNOME community in the early days, but seems he has posting this crap for 4 years now. probably just to get karma. If all reasonable attempts have been made to contact him, I think this should be referred to the CC.
This guy is not a LP admin of any kind. Anybody with a LP account can mark an Ubuntu bug āinvalidā.
There are a few things which you canāt do without being a member of the Ubuntu Bug Control team, and there is indeed a barrier before youāll be accepted as a member there.
Perhaps you had flexiondotorg in mind - wouldnāt be the first time weāve been pinged by mistake on irc - in fact wouldnāt be the first time I pinged me on irc when I was after him
