Abstract
Toxicity in bug report discussions poses significant challenges to the collaborative dynamics of open-source software development. Bug reports are crucial for identifying and resolving defects, yet their inherently problem-focused nature and emotionally charged context make them susceptible to toxic interactions. This study explores toxicity in GitHub bug reports through a qualitative analysis of 203 bug threads, including 81 toxic ones. Our findings reveal that toxicity frequently arises from misaligned perceptions of bug severity and priority, unresolved frustrations with tools, and lapses in professional communication. These toxic interactions not only derail productive discussions but also reduce the likelihood of actionable outcomes, such as linking issues with pull requests. Our preliminary findings offer actionable recommendations to improve bug resolution by mitigating toxicity.
Recommended Citation
M. M. Imran and J. Sarker, "“Silent is Not Actually Silent”: An Investigation of Toxicity on Bug Report Discussion," Proceedings of the ACM SIGSOFT Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering, pp. 576 - 580, Association for Computing Machinery, Jul 2025.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1145/3696630.3728502
Department(s)
Computer Science
Publication Status
Open Access
Keywords and Phrases
Bug Report; Empirical Study; Open Source Software; Toxicity
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
1539-7521
Document Type
Article - Conference proceedings
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2025 Association for Computing Machinery, All rights reserved.
Creative Commons Licensing
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Publication Date
28 Jul 2025
