Github - remove issues entered in error

Question

Dozens of issues have been entered into my project on github that have no place there. Some Einstein ran a script and created all these nonsensical issues through the api. Nothing is linked to these issues.

Surely there is someway I can delete them, but I can't seem to find it in the docs.

I'm guessing he wants to remove them so he can re-enter them so they are linked. And as far as I can tell, all you can do is close the issues. I can't find a way to actually remove-remove them. — AlbertEngelB, May 13 '13 at 17:23
I could do that but then it would say I have 200 closed issues when there is really only 100 and it looks like a disaster with all the nonsensical titles... — recursive_acronym, May 13 '13 at 17:23
possible duplicate of [removing github issues](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3081521/removing-github-issues) — Ciro Santilli OurBigBook.com, Aug 15 '14 at 09:08

score 10 · Accepted Answer · answered May 13 '13 at 19:28

10

There is no way to actually delete the issues. What you can do, to indicate that this was a spam attack, is create a new label. You can then use the API to edit each issue to be closed and labeled with the SPAM label. Those who look at it will see the label displayed along side the issue and it's really the best you can hope for.

If you're more comfortable with a specific language, check for a library written in it to make your life easier too.

answered May 13 '13 at 19:28

Ian Stapleton Cordasco

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This is what I thought/feared. Thanks everybody. – recursive_acronym May 13 '13 at 19:51
2

You can also [block the user](https://help.github.com/articles/blocking-a-user) to prevent him/her from opening any other issues on your repositories. – jasonrudolph May 14 '13 at 17:24

score 10 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Since Nov. 2018 and this tweet... you now can delete issues (if you are an Administrator/owner of a GitHub project)

The tweet read:

You've been asking for it.

You know the issue(s).

Delete 'em.

Warning: there is no "Undo" for now.

This is in public beta and the documentation is "Deleting an issue"

When you delete an issue, collaborators do not receive a notification. If you visit the URL of a deleted issue, you'll see a message that says the issue was deleted.

By default, you can only delete issues in a repository owned by your user account. As a collaborator in a repository owned by an individual user account, you cannot delete issues.

aabilio · Answer 3 · 2016-10-05T08:39:36.923

Due to legal problems I've had to delete several issues with many comments of a project. I did as follows:

Deleting all comments
Editing the text of the issue ("THIS ISSUE WAS DELETED AND BLOCKED")
Blocking the issue

Copy paste on browser address bar:

javascript:(function(){ $('.delete-button.octicon.octicon-x.js-comment-delete').each(function(){ href=$(this).attr("href"); if(href!==undefined) { console.log("DELETING: "+href); $.ajax({type:"DELETE",url:href}); } }); firstCommentToedit=$('form.js-comment-update')[0]; $.ajax({ type:"POST", url:firstCommentToedit.action, data:{ _method:$(firstCommentToedit).find('input[name=_method]').val(), "issue[body]":"THIS ISSUE WAS DELETED AND BLOCKED", authenticity_token:$(firstCommentToedit).find('input[name=authenticity_token]').val() } }); lockLink=$('a[href$="/lock"]')[0]; if (lockLink!==undefined) { $.ajax({ type:"POST", url:lockLink.href, data:{_method:$(lockLink).attr("data-method")} }); } setTimeout(function(){window.location=window.location;},3000) })()

Expanded:

javascript: (function() {
    $('.delete-button.octicon.octicon-x.js-comment-delete').each(function() {
        href = $(this).attr("href");
        if (href !== undefined) {
            console.log("DELETING: " + href);
            $.ajax({
                type: "DELETE",
                url: href
            });
        }
    });
    firstCommentToedit = $('form.js-comment-update')[0];
    $.ajax({
        type: "POST",
        url: firstCommentToedit.action,
        data: {
            _method: $(firstCommentToedit).find('input[name=_method]').val(),
            "issue[body]": "THIS ISSUE WAS DELETED AND BLOCKED",
            authenticity_token: $(firstCommentToedit).find('input[name=authenticity_token]').val()
        }
    });
    lockLink = $('a[href$="/lock"]')[0];
    if (lockLink !== undefined) {
        $.ajax({
            type: "POST",
            url: lockLink.href,
            data: {
                _method: $(lockLink).attr("data-method")
            }
        });
    }
    setTimeout(function() {
        window.location = window.location;
    }, 3000)
})()

@Gaia I edited the answer. The code was a "shortcut" to automatically do the steps described above. I do not know if it still works (it depends on whether GitHub has changed class names). — aabilio, Oct 05 '16 at 08:41
Example: issue "deleted" with this method: https://github.com/aabilio/PyDownTV2/issues/135 — aabilio, Oct 05 '16 at 08:48

Github - remove issues entered in error

3 Answers3

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