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🤝 Open Source Etiquette & Soft Skills

How to Not Be "That Guy"

Open Source is built by humans, not robots. Most maintainers are volunteers working in their free time. Being polite and professional is often more important than your code quality.

📜 Rule #1: Read the CONTRIBUTING.md

Most repos have a CONTRIBUTING.md file. It contains the "House Rules": * "Use this code style." * "Run these tests before pushing." * "Use this template for Pull Requests."

If you ignore this file, your PR will be closed immediately. It shows you didn't respect their time.

🙋‍♂️ How to Ask for Help

Bad: "This doesn't work. Help."
(The maintainer has no idea what you did).

Good: "I'm trying to run the setup script on Ubuntu 20.04. I got error X. I tried doing Y to fix it, but it didn't work. Here is a screenshot of the log."

Tip: Google your error first. If the answer is on the first page of Google, the maintainer will be annoyed that you didn't look.

👻 The "Ghosting" Problem

  • If you say "I'm working on this!", do it.
  • If you get busy and can't finish it, tell them. "Hey, sorry, I have exams. Unassigning myself so someone else can take it."
  • This is totally fine! Ghosting (disappearing silently) blocks others from fixing the bug.

⚔️ Handling Feedback (Code Reviews)

When a maintainer requests changes, don't take it personally. * They aren't saying you are bad. * They are saying the code needs to fit their project standards. * Reply: "Thanks for the review! I'll make those changes tonight."

🚫 Don't be a "Spam Contributor"

  • Don't submit PRs just to add your name to a list.
  • Don't fix typos that don't exist.
  • Don't use AI to generate broken code and dump it in a PR.

Quality > Quantity. One meaningful bug fix is worth more than 50 "Fixed typo" PRs.