diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index ad4c3307314a8efc2ef4f399740a53ab05ed8640_LmdpdGxhYi1jaS55bWw=..4d3d3ac4ecf2f05afec7022a213c0918212a5983_LmdpdGxhYi1jaS55bWw= 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -190,5 +190,9 @@
   image: registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-org/distribution/issue-bot:latest
   script: /issue-bot
   rules:
-    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME != $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH'
+    # Not needed in non-protected (feature) branches
+    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_REF_PROTECTED != "true"'
+      when: never
+    # Not needed in omnibus-gitlab-mirror
+    - if: '$CI_PROJECT_PATH == $QA_PROJECT_PATH'
       when: never
@@ -194,3 +198,7 @@
       when: never
-    - if: '$PIPELINE_TYPE == "PROTECTED_TEST_PIPELINE"'
-      when: on_failure
+    # The remaining scenarios are all important pipelines we want to be
+    # notified about
+    # 0. Tags
+    # 1. Master branch - includes scheduled pipelines also
+    # 2. Stable branches
+    - when: always