alt Hacker NewsIMO closing issues via stale bot is fine, the problem is locking issues so that no further conversation is allowed on the issue. Multiple times, I've encountered multi-year old issues (which is usually not fixed due to the fix not being simple or compatible with the current architecture). There's usually a good amount of conversation between users offering workarounds (and those workarounds updated for newer versions) - till stale bot locks the issue.
This 1000%. Whoever came up with the idea of closing and locking issues because no one has posted on them for awhile is at best not all that bright and at worst downright sinister.
Closing an issue due to staleness is one thing, locking it is another.