440124 - Magnitude of CC list is not apparent when cloning a bug

Status: NEW

(Bugzilla :: Creating/Changing Bugs, defect)

Description

[Nelson Bolyard (seldom reads bugmail)]

When one creates a new bug by cloning an existing bug, the CC list for the 
new bug may be enormous, but this fact is not apparent by looking at the 
pre-populated new-bug form.  Consequently, people cloning a bug may 
unwittingly and unintentionally create a new bug with an enormous CC list.

As an example of this, see bug 439330, which was created as a clone of 
Bug 292789.

To solve this problem, I propose that the text box for the CC list on the
new bug form be made large enough to contain the entire pre-populalted CC 
list, so that the entire pre-populated CC list is visible to the reporter 
of the new clone.

Comment 1

[Dave Miller [:justdave]]

I propose a js-enhanced select box that looks much like the CC box on the show_bug page and adds and removes people to the select box one at a time as you enter/remove them. Can either repopulate those back into the comma-separated hidden field on submit, or select-all in the listbox via before submitting so they all get transmitted.

Comment 2

[Frédéric Buclin]

(In reply to comment #0)
> Consequently, people cloning a bug may 
> unwittingly and unintentionally create a new bug with an enormous CC list.

Why is that a problem?


> To solve this problem, I propose that the text box for the CC list on the
> new bug form be made large enough to contain the entire pre-populalted CC 
> list

No, even with only 10-15 users in the CC list, the CC field would be too large to fit in your screen. That's not something we would do. What could eventually be done is to put in parens besides the CC field the number of users listed, e.g. [[e-mail], bla@...] (21)

Comment 3

[Nelson Bolyard (seldom reads bugmail)]

Attachment: Proof of concept

(In reply to comment #2)

> Why is that a problem?

It really annoys all those people who get put into that CC list.
Just look at the spate of updates to bug 439330 where people removed 
themselves from the cc list.  There were even postings in newsgroups 
about it.

> > To solve this problem, I propose that the text box for the CC list on the
> > new bug form be made large enough to contain the entire pre-populalted CC 
> > list
> 
> No, even with only 10-15 users in the CC list, the CC field would be too 
> large to fit in your screen. 

No, it wouldn't.  Look at the attachment.  It's a proof of concept. 
It's an alternative to (edited copy of) the form you get when you try to 
clone Bug 292789.  It has over 50 email addresses in the CC list, but it 
all fits on the screen.

Comment 4

[Nelson Bolyard (seldom reads bugmail)]

BTW, I like Dave Miller's idea better than my proof-of-concept.  
I just wanted to show that it's feasible.

Comment 5

[Max Kanat-Alexander]

Only thing to keep in mind here is that we don't need to get into any major changes to fix this uncommon problem.

Comment 6

[Frédéric Buclin]

Having experienced this problem personally, i.e. users cloning bugs and me being in the CC list despite I have no interest in the clone, I think either a user pref to ask to not be CC'ed automatically when someone clones a bug, or to not copy the CC list at all, would be preferable. This would save me some time so that I don't need to unCC myself from clones.