Hi, it does seem like a good idea at first glance. However, in our experience to date we are appreciative of the wide range of contexts that subscribers have, including technical skill-sets and understanding of the context of developing software. 

While of course there's nothing to hide, our bug tracking system is an internal system and if opened up would create another level of process and communications. From previous experience we believe it would lead to unintended confusion over how work is prioritised. For the vast majority of subscribers the correct channel for support queries is through your Totara Partner. Most of them have read access to our bug tracker.

What I can ensure you is that our release notes will be improved to create greater context and background.

regards
Richard