diff --git a/.github/workflows/close-stale-issues-prs.yml b/.github/workflows/close-stale-issues-prs.yml
index 8221fcc0732555..ef248c400a31d5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/close-stale-issues-prs.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/close-stale-issues-prs.yml
@@ -18,15 +18,9 @@ jobs:
         uses: actions/stale@v4
         with:
           repo-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-          # Messages for issues (mention the issue author)
-          stale-issue-message: "Hey there, this issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be auto-closed after and additional 10 days of inactivity. If you need it open for longer, add the label `stale-exempt`."
-          close-issue-message: "Hey there, this issue has been automatically closed due to 45 days of inactivity. If needed, please reopen or comment and we can reevaluate your request."
-          # Messages for pull requests (mention the PR author)
-          stale-pr-message: "Hey there, this pull request has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be auto-closed after and additional 10 days of inactivity. If you need it open for longer, add the label `stale-exempt`."
-          close-pr-message: "Hey there, this pull request has been automatically closed due to 45 days of inactivity. If needed, please reopen or comment and we can reevaluate your request."
-          # Time thresholds (adjust to your policy)
+          stale-issue-message: "Hey there, we've marked this pull request as stale because there's no recent activity on it. This label helps us identify long-standing issues in our repo (and not used to auto-close issues)."
+          stale-pr-message: "Hey there, we've marked this pull request as stale because there's no recent activity on it. This label is helps us identify PRs that might need updates (or to be closed out by our team if no longer relevant)."
           days-before-stale: 35
-          days-before-close: 15
+          # setting to a negative number means they'll never be autoclosed
+          days-before-close: -1
           operations-per-run: 100
-          exempt-pr-labels: stale-exempt
-          exempt-issues-labels: stale-exempt