[Python-Dev] Enhanced tracker privileges for dangerjim to do triage.

[R. David Murray]

On Mon, 26 Apr 2010 12:45:34 +0100, Michael Foord <fuzzyman at voidspace.org.uk> wrote:
> So the question remains - for *tracker* privileges, should the
> recommendation and commitment to mentor from an established commiter be
> sufficient (and therefore a standard part of our process)?

I think that in a technical sense a commitment to mentoring by an
established contributor would be enough.  But it seems to me that
there are a couple of arguments against it being sufficient in the
wider picture.

The first is that open source projects tend to be meritocracies.
An otherwise unknown person being introduced to the community and
immediately given privileges *just* because of the recommendation of
another person may feel (especially to the non privileged) like a kind
of nepotism.  ("It's not what you contribute, it's who you know").

The second is in some ways a subtle variation on the first.  If a new
person, even with a well respected mentor standing behind them, first
approaches the tracker by reviewing and commenting without privileges,
it does two things: it allows people in the community who are not the
mentor to get a sense of them, and it gives them the benefit of input
from people other than the mentor, and all of this happens *before*
they have the opportunity (and the worry) of making mistakes(*).
Both of these things serve to build community, and the second, IMO,
results in a stronger, more confident contributor.

I think that someone who has a mentor sponsoring them from the first
should be able to go from zero to privileged in a very short period of
time (a couple weeks perhaps, mostly depending on their activity level).

Someone without a pre-existing mentor could do the same, if their activity
level is high enough, and would probably pick up a mentor along the
way...or be mentored by #python-dev as a whole if they hang out there.

In other words, I think the goal is not just to add new developers to
the community, but to continue to build a strong community of developers.

--
R. David Murray                                      www.bitdance.com

(*) Even a seasoned developer from another project will make mistakes
because some of our development process is a part of our culture
and not written down, and even that which is written down is not
necessarily easy for a newcomer to absorb by reading.