Nobody wants to "Subscribe to bug mail"

[Matthew Paul Thomas]

The "Overview" page (at least until bug 193872 is fixed) for a project, milestone, package, or distribution contains a "Subscribe to bug mail" link. But that's synecdoche, confusing the object with the mechanism (like calling a telephone, or writing to a mailbox).

The link should be reworded to refer to a user goal. What people want to do, if they click this link intentionally, is subscribe to all bug reports. So the link should be "Subscribe to all bug reports", or (if that doesn't fit while the Actions menu still exists, a slighter synecdoche) "Subscribe to all bugs".

[Duncan Lithgow (duncan-lithgow)]

+1

[Deryck Hodge (deryck)]

This can (and will) be fixed (for bugs, anyway) in the redesign of the project bugs home for 3.0.

[Eleanor Berger (intellectronica)]

I'm not sure the proposed change will result in better user experience. To me, 'subscribe to bug mail' better describes what I can expect (all mail pertaining to bugs) than 'subscribe to all bugs' (will I receive comments? metadata changes?)

Either this is one of those cases where a recognizable 'mistake' is better than an obscure but correct form, or I've used the function for long enough that I am longer capable of judging.

[Eleanor Berger (intellectronica)]

How about 'Subscribe to all bug notifications'?

[Eleanor Berger (intellectronica)]

My fix for bug #419965 makes the link sensitive to existing subscription (so you are offered to subscribe if there are no subscriptions and to edit if there are). I'm inclined to continue using the term bug mail, though. It's 'wrong' but very familiar, and any of the alternative terms I've heard strike me as less recognizable.

If there's agreement on that, this bug can be marked WONTFIX.

[Martin Pool (mbp)]

In my opinion this is not worth doing anything more on at this time. The phrase is not precise but I doubt it causes much pain: people who want all mail can get it, and people who're getting lots of mail but don't want it probably need a larger story considered. (Like a "notification manager" type screen showing all the reasons they're getting mail.)

[Deryck Hodge (deryck)]

Agreed with the comments here.