Very excellent post, Jean-Louis!
Congratulations and well deserved, Richard! So very well deserved. It's been
a joy to see your activity through various parts of the project.
People often wonder how they can become committers. The answer is simple but
perhaps counter-intuitive: engage with the project as if you are already a
committer. Ways to do that include:
- Help with code reviews. You won't annoy people with your thoughts. More
eyes is good for quality and it's a great way for everyone to get to know you
and learn.
- Ask questions and turn answers into documentation. If email was
documentation we'd delete the website and just publish the archives. Pulling
information out of people and turning what you learn into documentation is a
great way to learn and contribute at the same time. it also helps people get
to know you.
- Team with other people also looking to contribute. When someone posts, "how
can I help", consider posting, "I don't know what I'm doing either, but maybe
we can work on something together." Collaboration is how open source works.
Activity creates more activity. Two new faces sharing what they're learning
over the lists has a way of encouraging others to find the bravery to jump in.
- Consistency. It's a marathon, not a sprint. One major contribution and
then nothing isn't as effective as several smaller contributions over time.
Stay active even if it's just a small thing here and there.
- Help others feel welcome. Understand you are already welcome, you don't
need to earn that. Help others feel the same way. Any tiny bit of information
you have to share is valuable to new people. The act of helping someone to any
degree builds community and that's the most important thing in an open source
project.
Notice "implement the most amazing feature ever" is not in the list :)
Richard, you help to the best of your ability, you're kind and welcoming to
others and you don't let fear of what you don't know stop you from contributing.
I won't say welcome aboard because you've always been welcome, so instead I'll
say congratulations! You earned it, sir!
--
David Blevins
http://twitter.com/dblevins
http://www.tomitribe.com
> On Jan 12, 2021, at 1:34 PM, Jean-Louis Monteiro
> wrote:
>
> The Project Management Committee (PMC) for Apache TomEE has
> invited Richard to become a committer and we are pleased to announce that
> he has accepted.
>
> Richard, a while back (yes I know) when I started contributing and I
> eventually got invited to become a committer, David sent a wonderful
> message[1] based on the well known proverb "It takes a village ... (to
> raise a child)". I can't unfortunately compete with David's phrasing and
> wonderful words, but believe me, I wish I could for you. But I'll try to
> say it with my simple but honest frenchglish words.
>
> I'm very proud to be writing this announcement on behalf of the Apache
> TomEE PMC. You have been continuously contributing to the project, with
> code, documentation, examples and most important, helping out users and
> other potential committers.
>
> You have the Apache way and I'm glad you accepted the invite.
> It's our committer responsibility to enable others to contribute and again
> I think you have been doing great.
>
> Being a committer enables easier contribution to the project since there is
> no need to go via the patch submission process. This should enable better
> productivity. Being a PMC member enables assistance with the management and
> to guide the direction of the project.
>
>
> Please join me and send him a warm welcome and thank you.
>
>
> [1]
> http://tomee-openejb.979440.n4.nabble.com/It-takes-a-village-Jean-Louis-td988516.html#a988522
>
> --
> Jean-Louis Monteiro
> http://twitter.com/jlouismonteiro
> http://www.tomitribe.com
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