[Python-Dev] contributors survey?

[anatoly techtonik]

On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 4:22 AM, Stephen J. Turnbull <stephen at xemacs.org> wrote:
> Antoine Pitrou writes:
>
>  > Following the example given in the original article, I was considering
>  > a single freeform question: "why did you stop contributing after your
>  > last patch to CPython?" (of course, that text should be decorated with
>  > a greeting and an introduction and the wording can be improved).
>
> Does anybody ever stop contributing?  Occasionally, yes, but in most
> cases it's just that this interval between explicit contributions
> (usually patches, but also reviews, PEPs, mailing list posting, bug
> reports, ...) is longer than the period since the last one. :-)
>
> How about
>
>    Hello.  We [the PSF?] would like to thank you for your past
>    patches to CPython, and take this opportunity to learn something
>    about how to improve our workflow.  We would appreciate your
>    cooperation in answering the following question.
>
>    It has been more than one year since your last patch to CPython.
>    We would like to understand why it's been so long [, and if there
>    is anything we could do to help you contribute patches more
>    frequently].
>
> The clause in brackets is outside the scope of Antoine's wording, but
> I assume that's where we're going with this.

Unpythonic, without human touch, dull and boring, sounds like a letter
from some executive, who was pushed for bad performance. Such letters
are bad for digestion and not tasty to reply. How about making it more
personal? Why the distinction of "we" and "you"? How about s/we/BDFL/
and take the tone appropriate?

  Hi there. BDFL was watching you, and now wants to know why
  are you not contributing patches anymore? If there is something
  for you to say, please tell everyone, or else we all may be in
  trouble! Thanks for being the part of Python Community. Sigh.


Your English may vary.
-- 
anatoly t.