Re: Maintainers and contributors (was: Contributors and maintainers)

[Artur Malabarba <bruce.connor.am@gmail.com>]

On 22 Oct 2015 6:40 am, "John Wiegley" <johnw@newartisans.com> wrote:
> So I'd like to emphasize, to our maintainers, that we must strive to make
> patience, kindness, and consideration, our primary attributes when dealing
> with contributors -- especially those new to the process, who are developing
> their first impressions, and based upon which will either continue to help us,
> or walk away frustrated.

Yes. It's very easy (and only natural) for maintainers to feel at home
here in the list, and it's ok for the maintainers to treat each other
casually.
However, this is not home, it's more like our office. So when someone
new shows up at reception, it's best to treat them with an extra notch
of politeness and respect.

I should say now: I don't mean that the maintainers are unpolite (not
even a little bit). I'm just saying that we don't know the person when
they first submit a contribution, and they don't know us. So it's best
to be extra nice, because that's just how the world works. Some people
have grown in more aggressive areas of the Internet (or the world),
and they'll get defensive _very_ quickly. Other people have grown in
extremely polite areas of the world, and they may feel unwanted if the
same politeness is not extended to them here.

And what do I mean by extra politeness?
1. Start the conversation by saying "Hi ..., thanks for submitting this";
2. When making suggestions that are not essential, say something like
"Your code looks good to apply, but I have a couple of suggestions if
you'd like to improve it further".
3. At random points during a conversation, show small signs of
politeness _especially_ if your email is turning out rather long
(e.g., "Sorry for taking so long", "We're almost getting there now!").

I know, this takes patience.
If we don't think the team has the patience to behave like this, then
one or two who do should be appointed for the job of making first
contact (as sort of embassadors).
(In fact, this might be a good idea even if the team _can_ manage to
be extra polite).

And then there's a fourth point, which is a little harder, but it
would really help demonstrate organization and respect.

4. If the same point goes back and forth twice between you and the
contributor, then stop arguing about it. Bring it up in a separate
place just amongst the maintainers, and then come back and say "Hi
___, I brought this up with X, Y, and Z yesterday, and decided that
___ because ___.".

Even if the decision is against what the contributor wants, this sort
of attitude shows that at least some thought was given to their
arguments.
More importantly, it shows respect, organization, and professionalism.
This may occasionally give off the impression that emacs-devel is
super picky about the code it lets in, but that's better than giving
off the impression that it is a messy team with no structure and that
submitting code is akin to roullete.