Bugzilla as a discussion forum

[Gervase Markham]

Christian Robottom Reis wrote:
> but there are three things that off the top
> of my head I do think could improve the situation:
> 
>     - Specifying "Comment types", which would allow us to categorize
>       comments -- there's a bug and patch for this open. This opens a
>       lot of nice possibilities for queries and historical analysis
>       later.

Does this include negative/perjorative comment types ("irrelevant", 
"troll" etc.)? If so, this is bound to generate a massive amount of 
argument and bad feeling, as people mark and unmark particular comments. 
And in a closed Bugzilla, such types would be useless anyway.

I can see the virtue of "this comment was added with a patch", and "this 
comment was added as a mass change", and that sort of thing.

>     - Allowing comments to be marked as "irrelevant" -- poor man's
>       moderation, I guess.

With all the inherent disadvantages of that.

>     Both features would be restricted by privilege (perhaps editbugs,
>     perhaps something different)
> 
>     - Timeless' proposed "block bug" feature.

When it comes down to it, I think we may be trying to solve what is 
really a minor problem here. As you said, there are very few bugs that 
produce such large amounts of interest and discussion. And, with the 
exception of the assignee (who can always just walk away) and the 
reporter, no-one is forced to pay any attention to it.

Gerv