Rubber-Stamping Prevention

What is Rubber-Stamping?

Rubber-stamping is approving a PR without actually reviewing the code. This was observed in PR #359 which received 3 APPROVED reviews despite having zero changes.

Why It's Bad

Wastes reviewer time
Creates false sense of review quality
Allows zombie PRs to appear reviewed

Prevention Measures

1. CI Check (`.gitea/workflows/check-pr-changes.yml`)

Automated check that runs on every PR:

Detects PRs with no changes (0 additions, 0 deletions, 0 files changed)
Blocks merge if PR is a zombie
Provides clear error messages

2. PR Template

Enhanced reviewer checklist:

Verify PR has actual changes
Changes match description
Code quality review
Tests are adequate
Documentation is updated

3. Zombie PR Detection

# Scan all repos
python bin/check_zombie_prs.py

# Scan specific repos
python bin/check_zombie_prs.py --repos the-nexus timmy-home

# Generate report
python bin/check_zombie_prs.py --report

Testing

# Create a test PR with no changes
git checkout -b test/zombie-pr
git commit --allow-empty -m "test: empty commit"
git push origin test/zombie-pr
# Create PR — CI should fail

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