Rubber Stamping
Verb · Noun · Development
Definitions
Approving a code review without actually reading the changes — hitting 'approve' based on trust, laziness, or social pressure rather than genuine assessment. The leading cause of 'LGTM' regret.
In plain English: Approving a code review, document, or decision without actually examining it — hitting 'approve' out of trust, laziness, or social pressure.
Etymology
- 1880s
- Rubber stamps are invented for clerical work; 'rubber-stamping' soon becomes a metaphor for approving without genuine review
- 2000s
- In software development, rubber-stamping describes code reviews approved without actually reading the code
- 2010s
- GitHub and other platforms add required review policies to prevent rubber-stamp approvals on critical code paths