Goes against the grain of conventional wisdom.  The nastier, the better.  How can this be?  Let me state the ways.

1. Status.  It demonstrates an active project.  If you go to their bug tracking page and can’t find a bunch of open defects, something is wrong.  It’s dead, Jim.
2. Relevance.  Shows that people are using it.  Early on, I once heard a developer proudly proclaim his code never has bugs.  That I still remember 25 years later is a testament to how profoundly stupid of a statement it was.  If your code doesn’t have bugs, it’s not being used.  The more it’s used, the more bugs to find.
3. Excellence.  Bugs bring out the best in us by challenging our assumptions and testing our abilities.
4. Openness.  Let’s admit it, we only hide when embarrassed or scared.  Much better to own up, accept the consequences, move on.