Incident Reporting in Bugzilla

[Ben Wilson]

All,

I thought I'd take a moment to send a few suggestions regarding incident reporting and comments posted in Bugzilla. This is in addition to anything that might already be covered in https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/governance/policies/participation/ or elsewhere regarding professionalism and civil discourse.

Incident reporting in Bugzilla helps move us closer to clear answers and better CA practices. The hope is that we can take lessons from incident reporting discussions in Bugzilla to improve the accuracy, completeness, and clarity of communication. 

All CAs responding to incidents in Bugzilla should ensure that they have clearly identified and addressed all open questions before requesting bug closure. At the same time, commenters should aim to be explicit in their requests, flagging questions in a way that helps them stand out in the discussion. If a question appears to be unanswered, it’s most effective to explain how or why the response was insufficient—otherwise, the CA may reasonably assume the question has been "asked and answered."

Let’s also remember that Bugzilla is not a courtroom. Questions should not be rhetorical or framed in a way that could feel adversarial or intimidating. Similarly, while yes/no answers may be appropriate in some cases, providing context in your answers is often essential to understanding what happened and how it’s being addressed.

Moreover, comments that amount to “we disagree” without explanation are not helpful. If there is a different interpretation or viewpoint, it should be supported with how or why, i.e. reasoning and evidence to facilitate productive discussion.

Finally, we all benefit when these conversations are grounded in mutual respect and a shared goal of strengthening the operation of our systems.

Thanks,

Ben