expectations from the community

[Augie Fackler]

On Feb 6, 2012, at 10:37 AM, Andrey Somov wrote:

> Hi happy Mercurial developers,
> I would like to ask a question about expectations from the community to
> those who (may) contribute to the project.
> 
> 1 case - contributor
> 
> Imagine you noticed that the school bus of your lovely child is not in
> order: the left stop light does not work. To improve it (make it safer) you
> go to a shop, buy the lamp, go the driver and try to fix it. If the driver
> says the lamp is wrong, you go the shop again and buy the proper lamp.
> Finally the stoplight works and you feel safe.
> 
> 2 case - reporter
> 
> Imagine you noticed that _a_ school bus is not in order: the left stop
> light does not work. To fix it you tell the driver that the light does not
> work. You hear back that first - your English is not perfect, second - you
> must submit a special form to report a problem. Nevertheless, you feel that
> you have done your job - the problem is known and it can be fixed by those
> who feel responsible for the bus (because you do not !). But days pass and
> you see that nothing is done - the light still does not work.
> 
> Now my question. Sometimes I feel like a reporter but it looks like the
> community expects me to be a contributor. Is there any policy ? What are
> the expectations? Are the reporters welcome ? How can I indicate that I
> simply want to show the places where the code can be improved ?

Bug reporters are certainly welcome, but bugs tend to be fixed when there's someone contributing that's bitten by the bug. Not everything is that way, but most of us are doing this as a side project, and it's not what pays the bills. A bug sitting unfixed isn't an indicator that we dislike the reporter, merely that nobody has bothered to pick it up. Sometimes, bugs are obscure enough that the only way to get them fixed is to either pay someone to become a contributor, or become one yourself.

Does that help?

> Please do not take me wrong: I do _not_ want to say the community is not
> friendly. I just want to avoid any misunderstanding.
> 
> -
> Andrey
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