Thank maintainers on every upstream issue/PR/comment

Every upstream contribution ends with a one-line thanks to the maintainer for their work on the project.

Thank maintainers on every upstream contribution

Rule

Every GitHub issue, PR, or comment we file at an upstream repo ends with a one-line thanks. No exceptions.

Format

Last line of the body:

Thanks for the great work on <project>!

Or, if we’ve filed multiple issues at same repo in same session, vary the phrasing:

• “Thanks for maintaining .”
• “Great tool — appreciate the work you put in.”
• “Thanks for the excellent .”

Why

• Maintainers do this for free. Acknowledgement costs nothing and softens the landing.
• Signals we are contributing in good faith, not dumping demands.
• Distinguishes our reports from bot-generated / low-effort issue spam.

When to skip

• Never. Even bug reports get the thanks.
• Even security disclosures — the thanks becomes: “Thanks for the responsible-disclosure channel. Reporting: …”

Anti-patterns

• ❌ Bullet the thanks at the top → feels performative. Put it at the end.
• ❌ Skip it because “the issue is critical” → then it’s still critical + polite.
• ❌ “Thanks in advance for looking into this!” → begging shape. Use past tense: “Thanks for the great work.”

Cross-refs

• terse-issues-less-hallucination — the thanks line does not violate the word cap; it’s the last line, not the body.

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