to close or not to close?

[Patrick Phalen]

[Tim Peters, on Mon, 31 Jul 2000]
:: So the "cover your butt" answer is "close it!". 

OK, but presumably you (Tim) don't do that in every instance, right? On
the assumption that your heuristics are superior to those of most of us
on this NG, it would be instructive if you would essay to outline the
rough thinking process (or the "moral struggle") you might typically go
through to decide whether or not to close manually.