Triaging is the initial bug review process, that anyone with a bit of patience can help with.

A good technique for triaging is to use the advanced search page (https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bugs?advanced=1). Search for 'New'+'Undecided' bugs, and/or some search term you care about (say, "layers dialog").

Looking at a specific bug, look over to the far right for a downward pointed arrow. Clicking this expands the bug settings panel. The Status and Importance fields are the main ones to deal with.

The goal of triaging is to get the bug out of 'New'. Review the bug and see if it has enough information to troubleshoot; if not, move it to state 'Incomplete'. If it does have enough, set it to 'Confirmed'. If the bug is really a feature request, set Status to Confirmed, and Importance to Wishlist. If the bug is out of date or otherwise invalid, mark it Invalid.

Bryce