Re: next CommitFest

On Thu, Nov 12, 2009 at 3:12 PM, Jeff Davis <pgsql(at)j-davis(dot)com> wrote:
> On Thu, 2009-11-12 at 14:43 -0500, Robert Haas wrote:
>> > Not all contributors are fluent English readers and writers.
>> >
>> > I certainly do not discourage those people from reviewing, but I can
>> > understand how it might be more frustrating and less productive for
>> > them. An important part of review is to read the relevant mailing list
>> > threads and try to tie up loose ends and find a consensus.
>>
>> Unfortunately, those people's patches also typically require more work
>> from other community members.  Discussions are longer and more
>> confused, and someone has to rewrite the documentation and comments
>> before commit.  If anything, people whose patches require more help
>> need to find ways to contribute MORE to the community, not less.  I
>> understand that's not easy, but it's necessary.
>
> Keep in mind that many of these people may also be regional contacts,
> translators, local conference (or user group) organizers, and provide
> support to users in languages other than English. They may even organize
> development efforts in languages other than English.

They may, but it's beyond my power to keep track of everything that a
person may or may not do. If we're going to have any chance of
enforcing a policy, it has to be simple and clear.

> I don't have a good answer for that. But sometimes the policy
> discussions here seem a little abstract, and I have a hard time seeing
> how they apply in real situations. It seems like you have a few
> "freeloaders" in mind, but I have a hard time imagining it's more than a
> couple people. Maybe they just need a nice reminder to be a more helpful
> community member if they want timely feedback on their work?

Well, you can go back and look at the list of people who had patches
reviewed last CF (see commitfest.postgresql.org), and then go back and
look at the reviewers (see pgsql-rrreviewers archives). It's all
public data. It's not 1 or 2 people - I count at least 8. I could
cross-reference for you and list the names, but that seems like
embarassing those people without accomplishing anything useful.

...Robert