Labeling improvements @ GitHub

[Centril]

The labels for the issue and pull request tracker of GitHub just got improved with the ability to add emojis and descriptions. See: https://github.com/blog/2505-label-improvements-emoji-descriptions-and-more

I’ve added descriptions to all labels of the following repositories as best I could:

• the RFCs repository, https://github.com/rust-lang/rfcs/labels
• the main rust repository, https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/labels

But I’m sure there’s room for improvements.

I’ve refrained for now from adding emojis as I’m not sure those would be helpful but we could do that… /discuss.

[withoutboats]

I have taken the liberty to make an improvement to the I-unsound tag, please feel free to change it back if it causes any problems

[nikomatsakis]

I’ve refrained for now from adding emojis as I’m not sure those would be helpful but we could do that… /discuss.

I do love emojis. =) Any chance to make our systems more light-hearted works for me. I wonder if we can use them to replace or supplement the A- (etc) labels.

[Centril]

I do love emojis. =) Any chance to make our systems more light-hearted works for me. I wonder if we can use them to replace or supplement the A- labels.

The only problem is that the urls get changed when you change the label name so if we add emojis then links can break. But you can add emojis to the description as well without breakage =P

[nikomatsakis]

Oh, yeah, that won’t do.

[steveklabnik]

to more emoji usage

[mark-i-m]

C-bug -> C-

[kennytm]

A little off-topic, but I wonder if you could darken the background of the “final-comment-period” tag so the text changes back to white. (I’ve changed it on rust-lang/rust already). Compare:

• Above: RFCs @ #207de5
• Below: Rust @ #1e76d9

[Centril]

I think that looks better, all for it

[anp]

If we could leave the T-teamname labels and the other rfcbot labels stable, that’d be good. Because they need to work across multiple repos they’re referenced with a string literal rather than a stable identifier.

[pietroalbini]

Can you please give some notice if you add emojis to the S- labels (the PR ones)? They’re used by name both by bors (I think), highfive and the PR status tracking thing I’m working on.

As a side note, I’m not a big fan of having emojis on the label names: they don’t give any real benefit, and I frequently type label:A-something in the search bar (breaking my workflow).

[Centril]

Can you please give some notice if you add emojis to the S- labels (the PR ones)?

I think the consensus so far is that we shouldn’t add emojis due to the url breakage - I-unsound being the exception for now.

[nikomatsakis]

One possible use for emoiji labels:

I’ve been tagging issues for the trait working group with little sigils to give an estimate of sort of task it is:

• urgent change: well explained, ready to go, but time sensitive
  • Best if you have some time in the near term to hack on it immediately
  • Expect to get pinged regularly via gitter or IRC =)
• refactoring: clear goal, not time sensitive
  • Best if you have some time in the near term to hack on it
• exploration: this is going to take some tinkering
  • These tasks are best for getting to know the system
  • But they will require regular investments of time probably to get done, and maybe some back and forth on the best design

I wonder if we might make those into labels instead, and use the scheme more regularly. I’m not sure those symbols are the best, but I like using an emoji to make it stand out when scanning.

[Centril]

I think those particular emojis are quite nice the labeling idea as well.

[RalfJung]

However, please also keep in mind that emojis can be much less readable than plain text. Some examples:

C-bug -> C-

I would read “C-” as “C-worm” and be really confused - is this about malware?

urgent change: well explained, ready to go, but time sensitive

I’d read as “this is rocket science: really hard to get right and it will probably blow up”.

Emojis are cute , but frequently not very clear in their intent, IMHO.

[pnkfelix]

I wouldn’t have minded the addition of emojis if there was or had been some way to define e.g. I-unsound as an alias for I-unsound 💥.

In particular, I find the use of emojis in this instance to be an impedance when I am using the keyboard to type in label names in the search box.

Update: (Oh, on review I see pietroalbini already said this above.)

[Centril]

@pnkfelix what worries me most is the frequency with which you need to type I-unsound =P

[withoutboats]

In particular, I find the use of emojis in this instance to be an impedance when I am using the keyboard to type in label names in the search box.

If its causing problems for anyone it should be changed back!

[system]

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