Closing PRs the Right Way

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│                        OPEN PRS CREATE NOISE                                │
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│  Your abandoned PRs:                                                        │
│  • Clutter project's PR list                                                │
│  • Waste maintainer attention                                               │
│  • Signal you're unreliable                                                 │
│  • Make you look unprofessional                                             │
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│  Clean up your PRs → Build good reputation                                  │
│                                                                             │
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[Maintainer merged your PR]
 
Optional comment:
"Thank you for merging! Excited to see this live. 
Let me know if any follow-up work is needed."
 
Or:
[Just leave it—no comment needed after merge]

[Maintainer closed without merging]
 
Your comment before closing:
"Understood. Thanks for reviewing and providing feedback. 
I learned from this attempt."
 
[Accept the closure, don't reopen]

You realize you can't complete the work
 
Your comment:
"I need to close this PR as I don't have capacity to finish it right now.
 
Current state:
- ✅ Basic implementation done
- ❌ Tests incomplete
- ❌ Needs performance optimization
 
If someone wants to take over, feel free to use this as a starting point.
 
Apologies for not finishing—learned a lot from what I did complete!"

Someone else's PR merged first
 
Your comment:
"Closing as #456 addresses this issue. Great work @other-contributor!"
 
Or:
 
"Closing in favor of #456 which has a better implementation. 
Happy to review that PR if helpful!"

PR sat untouched for weeks/months
 
Your comment:
"Closing due to inactivity. This became stale and the codebase has likely moved on.
 
Thanks for the initial feedback! If this issue is still relevant, 
I can revisit with a fresh approach."

Bad:
[PR sits open with requested changes]
[You never respond]
[Maintainer has to close it eventually]

Bad:
"Closing because maintainers don't appreciate good work"
"Whatever, wasted my time"
"This project is badly managed"
"Fine, I'll fork it"

Bad:
[PR open for 6 months]
[Stale, conflicts with main]
[No activity, no plan to finish]

# Delete local feature branch
git checkout main
git branch -D feature-branch-name
 
# Update your fork
git pull upstream main
git push origin main
 
# Optionally delete remote branch
git push origin --delete feature-branch-name

"I need to close this PR. Work got busy and I won't have time to address 
the feedback in a reasonable timeframe.
 
Thank you for the thorough review—I learned a lot from it. If someone else 
wants to take this over, feel free!
 
Apologies for not completing this."

"Closing this PR. As I dug deeper, I realized this change is more complex 
than I initially thought:
- Requires refactoring 3 other modules
- Needs database migration
- Affects 5 other features
 
This is beyond my current skill level. Hope someone more experienced 
can tackle it!"

"Closing as I see the project is moving in a different direction 
(discussion in #789).
 
This approach doesn't align with the new architecture. Makes sense!
 
Thanks for the feedback along the way."

"Closing this PR. After the review feedback, I researched more and found 
library X solves this better than my custom implementation.
 
Opening new PR using library X instead. Much cleaner!"

"Hi @maintainer,
 
I closed this PR 3 months ago due to [reason]. 
 
Since then:
- I've addressed all the original feedback
- Added comprehensive tests
- Updated to work with latest main
 
Would you be open to me reopening this, or should I submit a fresh PR?
 
Thanks!"

## What Went Wrong
 
PR: #123 - Add feature X
Status: Closed unmerged
Reason: Scope too large, approach not aligned
 
Lessons learned:
1. Should have discussed approach BEFORE coding
2. Started with too big a change
3. Didn't read roadmap carefully
 
Next time:
- Open issue for discussion first
- Start with smaller scope
- Check project roadmap and priorities

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                       CLOSING PR PROFESSIONALLY                             │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                             │
│  ✅ Clear explanation of why closing                                        │
│  ✅ Thank reviewers for their time                                          │
│  ✅ Professional tone (even if frustrated)                                  │
│  ✅ Offer to help if someone takes over                                     │
│  ✅ Clean up branches after closing                                         │
│  ✅ Learn from what happened                                                │
│                                                                             │
│  ❌ Ghost the PR                                                            │
│  ❌ Blame maintainers                                                       │
│  ❌ Leave bitter comments                                                   │
│  ❌ Clutter project with stale PRs                                          │
│                                                                             │
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[Bot] "This PR has been inactive for 30 days. Closing."
 
If you want to continue:
"@maintainer, I'm still working on this. Can we reopen? 
I'll have updates by Friday."
 
If you don't:
"Understood. I don't have capacity to finish this right now. 
Thanks for the initial review!"