And arguably we’re where we are because people have this idea that issue counts are comparable between projects.
I see this way of thinking around CVEs too. I think it’s a mistake of making data-driven decisions based on noise rather than signals. It sounds good when you have a comparative number to go on.
I see open issues as a pretty good signal that people are using the software and people care about its development, but maybe the number of contributors is too small. In these cases, I might even open the PR myself. Issues without replies though is probably the worst signal you can send as a maintainer. Closing issues without replying and letting a stale bot passively aggressively close issues is probably tied, but it’s usually hidden away.
I see this way of thinking around CVEs too. I think it’s a mistake of making data-driven decisions based on noise rather than signals. It sounds good when you have a comparative number to go on.