New issue template - "check existing issues" is worded quite strong

Metadata

Project: snapcraft
Number: #6032
Type: issue
State: open
Author: YanisaHS
Labels: Type: Documentation
Created: 2026-02-11 05:19 PM UTC
Updated: 2026-02-11 07:16 PM UTC
Closed: —

Current evaluation

Suggests softening the 'Check existing issues' checkbox wording in issue templates from 'I've verified...' to a less strict phrasing. Maintainer agreed and looped in template author, but no fix applied yet; wording unchanged in all three templates.

Suggested action: keep open

Reason: Maintainer @bepri explicitly agreed ('I think this wording change would be good') and looped in the template author @jahn-junior, but no PR has been filed since. The strict wording 'I've verified that this request isn't described by any existing issues.' is still present in bug.yaml, docs.yaml, and task.yaml, so the issue remains valid and actionable.

Impact: 15 Quick Win: 14.25 Staleness: 55 Complexity: 5 Confidence: 85 Support Request: 20

Issue body

### Check existing issues - [x] I've verified that this request isn't described by any existing issues. ### Request I have a suggestion regarding the **Check existing issues** section of your new issue template. The wording as it currently stands is strict ("I've verified..."), and might deter contributors (especially newer ones) from reporting issues. It'd be better to soften the wording and provide a nudge to others how to do this - e.g., "I’ve searched the existing issues and did not find one that already reports this." (or similar) I get wanting to have people look through the issues first, but it should be expected that this is on a best-effort basis, and backlog management is ultimately the role of the maintainers. See screenshot: <img width="489" height="86" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/56f1b813-1515-4697-b147-77027dfd899f" /> ### The problem it solves Might make it easier for people who aren't familiar with snapcraft to report issues/feedback/etc

Evaluation history

Date	Model	Scores	Action	Summary
2026-09-01 02:20 AM UTC	qwen/qwen3.8-27b	Impact: 15 Quick Win: 14.25 Staleness: 55 Complexity: 5 Confidence: 85 Support Request: 20	keep open	Suggests softening the 'Check existing issues' checkbox wording in issue templates from 'I've verified...' to a less strict phrasing. Maintainer agreed and looped in template author, but no fix applied yet; wording unchanged in all three templates.
2026-07-22 12:13 PM UTC	qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b	Staleness: 60 Complexity: 10 Confidence: 90 Support Request: 0	keep open	Suggests softening the strict wording in the new issue template's "check existing issues" checkbox to better welcome new contributors. A maintainer agreed with the change and looped in the template author, but no action has been taken yet.
2026-07-08 10:24 AM UTC	qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6	Staleness: 65 Complexity: 10 Confidence: 85 Support Request: 0	keep open	Suggests softening the wording of the check existing issues checkbox in the issue template to be less strict and more welcoming to new contributors. A maintainer agreed with the change but no updates since.
2026-06-16 05:30 PM UTC	qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6	Staleness: 40 Complexity: 5 Confidence: 85 Support Request: 0	needs triage	Proposes softening the strict wording of the issue template check existing issues checkbox to better welcome newcomers. A maintainer supports the change, and the request is awaiting review by the template author.

Update history

No update history recorded yet.

Related work

Related To: canonical/snapcraft#5882 (confidence 90%)
PR #5882 'chore: rework issue templates' introduced the current strict checkbox wording that this issue asks to soften.

Related issues

No related issues found above the similarity threshold.