Thank maintainers on every upstream issue/PR/comment

rule Wed Jul 01 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) rulesagentgithubissuescommunity

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.