stale-bot: Make it's messages more instructive

As somewhat discussed at: https://git.io/JJkRa, make the bot's message a
bit more instructive, and clearer as for what it will and won't do, so
random contributors will have a better idea what this is about.

Also: Split stale issues' and PRs' messages because each should
suggest different actions to do.

1 files changed, 24 insertions, 8 deletions

diff --git a/.github/stale.yml b/.github/stale.yml
index 1cf5014cfb3..afa307926fe 100644
--- a/.github/stale.yml
+++ b/.github/stale.yml
@@ -9,17 +9,33 @@ exemptLabels:
 # Label to use when marking an issue as stale
 staleLabel: "2.status: stale"
 # Comment to post when marking an issue as stale. Set to `false` to disable
-markComment: |
-  Thank you for your contributions.
+pulls:
+  markComment: |
+    Hello, I'm a bot and I thank you in the name of the community for your contributions.
 
-  This has been automatically marked as stale because it has had no activity for 180 days.
+    Nixpkgs is a busy repository, and unfortunately sometimes PRs get left behind for too long. Nevertheless, we'd like to help committers reach the PRs that are still important. This PR has had no activity for 180 days, and so I marked it as stale, but you can rest assured it will never be closed by a non-human.
 
-  If this is still important to you, we ask that you leave a comment below. Your comment can be as simple as "still important to me". This lets people see that at least one person still cares about this. Someone will have to do this at most twice a year if there is no other activity.
+    If this is still important to you and you'd like to remove the stale label, we ask that you leave a comment. Your comment can be as simple as "still important to me".  But there's a bit more you can do:
 
-  Here are suggestions that might help resolve this more quickly:
+    If you received an approval by an unpriviledged maintainer and you are just waiting for a merge, you can @ mention someone with merge permissions and ask them to help. You might be able to find someone relevant by using [Git blame](https://git-scm.com/docs/git-blame) on the relevant files, or via [GitHub's web interface](https://docs.github.com/en/github/managing-files-in-a-repository/tracking-changes-in-a-file). You can see if someone's a member of the [nixpkgs-committers](https://github.com/orgs/NixOS/teams/nixpkgs-committers) team, by hovering with the mouse over their username on the web interface, or by searching them directly on [the list](https://github.com/orgs/NixOS/teams/nixpkgs-committers).
+
+    If your PR wasn't reviewed at all, it might help to find someone who's perhaps a user of the package or module you are changing, or alternatively, ask once more for a review by the maintainer of the package/module this is about. If you don't know any, you can use [Git blame](https://git-scm.com/docs/git-blame) on the relevant files, or [GitHub's web interface](https://docs.github.com/en/github/managing-files-in-a-repository/tracking-changes-in-a-file) to find someone who touched the relevant files in the past.
+
+    If your PR has had reviews and nevertheless got stale, make sure you've responded to all of the reviewer's requests / questions. Usually when PR authors show responsibility and dedication, reviewers (privileged or not) show dedication as well. If you've pushed a change, it's possible the reviewer wasn't notified about your push via email, so you can always [officially request them for a review](https://docs.github.com/en/github/collaborating-with-issues-and-pull-requests/requesting-a-pull-request-review), or just @ mention them and say you've addressed their comments.
+
+    Lastly, you can always ask for help at [our Discourse Forum](https://discourse.nixos.org/), or more specifically, [at this thread](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/prs-in-distress/3604) or at [#nixos' IRC channel](https://webchat.freenode.net/#nixos).
+
+issues:
+  markComment: |
+    Hello, I'm a bot and I thank you in the name of the community for opening this issue.
+
+    To help our human contributors focus on the most-relevant reports, I check up on old issues to see if they're still relevant. This issue has had no activity for 180 days, and so I marked it as stale, but you can rest assured it will never be closed by a non-human.
+
+    The community would appreciate your effort in checking if the issue is still valid. If it isn't, please close it.
+
+    If the issue persists, and you'd like to remove the stale label, you simply need to leave a comment. Your comment can be as simple as "still important to me". If you'd like it to get more attention, you can ask for help by searching for maintainers and people that previously touched related code and @ mention them in a comment. You can use [Git blame](https://git-scm.com/docs/git-blame) or [GitHub's web interface](https://docs.github.com/en/github/managing-files-in-a-repository/tracking-changes-in-a-file) on the relevant files to find them.
+
+    Lastly, you can always ask for help at [our Discourse Forum](https://discourse.nixos.org/) or at [#nixos' IRC channel](https://webchat.freenode.net/#nixos).
 
-  1. Search for maintainers and people that previously touched the related code and @ mention them in a comment.
-  2. Ask on the [NixOS Discourse](https://discourse.nixos.org/).
-  3. Ask on the [#nixos channel](irc://irc.freenode.net/#nixos) on [irc.freenode.net](https://freenode.net).
 # Comment to post when closing a stale issue. Set to `false` to disable
 closeComment: false