Where should you make your first open source contribution, and who decides it counts?

Merge ConflictsPart 9 of 9

Who decides in an open source project, how they decide, and who can review the decision. Twelve projects, the same questions.

In this series 9 parts published
First open source contribution: Merge Conflicts 1.8 cover asking who decides it counts.

Your first open source contribution doesn’t need code. If you’ve answered the same WordPress question twice, you already have one to give. All twelve projects compared here list a first step without code. They differ on the gate, the credit and the say. Compare two before you pick one.

Key takeaways

  • The big picture: all twelve projects compared here list a first step that needs no code.
  • Why it matters: the gate, the wait, the credit and the say differ by project, and somebody decides each one.
  • Yes, but: programs publish how many people start. Few publish how many stay.
  • What to do: compare two projects on five questions, then make one small contribution.

🎟️ Which was my first open source contribution, 2009 or 2014?

Disclosure: I was a faculty member and a team rep on the WordPress Training Team. I’m not active on the team now.

In May 2009, I volunteered at WordCamp Mid-Atlantic in Baltimore.1 My job was checking attendees in. Nothing recorded it that I know of: no badge, no credit list. So ask me for my first contribution, and I’ll say 2014.

verified

On Friday, August 1, 2014, WordCamp NYC held a Contributor Day at New York University.2 There, I started a lesson module on post formats for the Training Team. Five days later, the team’s public recap listed it under my username: “A new module created by Courtney Robertson added at WCNYC contribute day!”3 Then I kept working on it, and said so in the team’s public chat.4

verified

  1. Courtney

    I'm making progress on Post Formats now on my own sites, and will finish the area I started at NYC contributor day

  2. Courtney

    Should have more written this week on the tutorial

Chat log from #wordpress-getinvolved, September 2, 2014. Times are UTC.

The lesson wasn’t the hard part. First came accounts and tools: logins, chat and where the work lived. Then came who to ask.

verified

The team was asking too. Its chat log from August 5, 2014 shows a member asking about an official approval process.5 Today, WordPress lists event volunteering as a contribution path, and its guide says “No prior experience is required.”6

First open source contribution sketch: a volunteer at a CHECK IN desk, a table sign asking DOES THIS COUNT?
Checking attendees in, 2009: no badge, no credit list. Illustration made with ChatGPT at my direction from the series cast.
Text description of the CHECK IN desk illustration

What this illustration shows

A colored pencil sketch on ivory paper shows two folding tables side by side. At the left table, an older volunteer with gray locs and a hearing aid sits behind a taped sign that reads CHECK IN. They wear a green cardigan and a lanyard with blank name badges. In front of them, a box of badges and a clipboard with a blank form sit on the table.

Next to them, a newcomer in a red plaid shirt stands at the second table. They hold a card that reads GOOD FIRST ISSUE, and a backpack strap rests on their prosthetic arm. On their table, a laptop and a stack of papers sit beside a folded sign that asks DOES THIS COUNT?

Meanwhile, both people glance up and smile, with small orange marks above their heads. So the desk work and the issue card share one room, but only one table asks whether its work counts.

analysis

So by the 2026 guide, my first open source contribution was that 2009 shift. By the 2009 record, it never happened. Somebody decides what counts, and the answer changes.

🚪 A first contribution without code, project by project

Disclosure: I work at Pantheon, a WordPress and Drupal host.

These twelve rows come from the post that explains which projects this series compares. That post also lists the OpenJS Foundation. It sits outside these tables, because a first contribution goes to a project, and Node.js has its own row. Each project’s own pages name where a first open source contribution can start without code. Each also sets a gate before your work can count. Some gates in the third column apply only once you send code. Here they are, A to Z.

verified

ProjectFirst step without codeWhat you need, or sign if you send code
Backdrop CMSTest a pull request in its sandbox site7GitHub account; an issue for every pull request8
DrupalTriage one issue report9Drupal.org account; accept terms before Git access10
GhostAnswer questions on the forum11License grant takes effect when you contribute code12
JoomlaAsk the volunteer team to place you13GitHub account to test patches; no agreement named14
MariaDBTry a development release and report back15Its contributor agreement, or a BSD license16
MySQLReport a bug17Oracle Contribution Agreement, signed before Oracle takes your code18
Node.jsTriage issues or answer questions19A sign-off line on every commit20
PHPRun the test suite on a release candidate21Nothing signed; a pull request certifies your rights22
TYPO3Help a team with its work23A my.typo3.org account; no agreement named24
W3CReview a draft and send comments25Patent commitment for substantive changes from outsiders26
WHATWGReview a standard and file an issue27Participant agreement; some employers must sign28
WordPressPick a starter guide by skill29WordPress.org account; no separate agreement found30
Where a first contribution starts in twelve open source projects, A to Z, as each project’s own pages state it

🔎 What stands out in the first table

  • WordPress sorts by skill. Its Contribution Pathways index groups starter guides by skill, and it first appeared in March 2026.31
  • Five WordPress steps need only an account. For example, you can answer a forum question, suggest a translation, submit photos, caption a video, or test a ticket in the browser.32
  • A first open source contribution can be tiny. In WordPress, one translated string earns a badge.33
  • Ghost and MySQL list narrow paths. Besides donating, Ghost’s only path without Git is its forum. Meanwhile, MySQL’s documentation path isn’t open yet.
  • Several pages are old. Drupal’s list of contribution areas, for instance, dates from February 2021.34
  • Some lists don’t say what’s open. On November 11, 2026, Joomla showed 99 help wanted roles across 25 teams, with no posting dates.35

✍️ What you sign, and who else has to

verified

  • Nothing found: WordPress, PHP and Backdrop. WordPress’s licensing page says contributing licenses your work.36 However, no page I read says “no agreement” in those words, so this one is my reading.
  • One line per commit: Node.js asks for a sign-off line and doesn’t require a legal name.37
  • A choice of two: MariaDB takes its own agreement or a BSD license.38
  • Signed agreement: MySQL needs Oracle’s agreement signed before it merges your code.39
  • Your employer’s signature: WHATWG asks people who work in web technology to have their employer sign.40
  • A patent promise: W3C asks outsiders for a patent commitment on substantive changes.41 Typo fixes pass without one.
  • Unknown: I found no current agreement page for Joomla or TYPO3. That’s unknown, which isn’t the same as none.

⏳ How long a first contribution waits

verified

Only one project I read publishes both a target and its own numbers. MariaDB’s target is a first response within “7 calendar days.”42 Its statistics for January to June 2026 count 777 new pull requests: 246 answered and 174 not. The rest were drafts, or merged or closed by their authors.43 However, two caveats apply. First, the target was published after those months. Second, the count covers every pull request, not only a newcomer’s.

WordPress publishes its waits too. For example, on November 11, 2026, its Core components page showed tickets with no replies: 115 in Editor, 91 in General and 50 in Taxonomy.44 In April 2026, a project post gave the stated reason for new onboarding work: “Teams want help, but we’re losing people at the door.”45 It also named scattered onboarding and unanswered Slack messages. (Every project has a door. Fewer have a doorbell.)

Meanwhile, the same project credited more than 800 contributors in WordPress 7.1. Over 170 of them were first timers.46

One study helps here, at its own size. Researchers looked at 111,094 pull requests in ten projects. Newcomers who got a human reply within a day were more likely to open another pull request.47 Still, that’s an association, and it’s about code. It doesn’t prove a fast reply keeps a translator.

Some projects write the wait into their rules instead. For example, Node.js lets a change land with two approvals after 48 hours, or one after seven days.48

🏅 Who says your open source contribution counts?

Making your first open source contribution is half of it. The other half is whether anyone writes your name down, and whether the work ever earns you a say. So here’s the second table, with the same twelve projects in the same order.

verified

ProjectWho credits the workRoute to a say
Backdrop CMSRelease posts thank contributors as a group49Committee nomination, then a unanimous committee vote50
DrupalA project maintainer grants issue credit51Free membership votes in the yearly board election52
GhostRelease notes name the author of each listed change53No contributor vote documented54
JoomlaRelease posts and volunteer portal profiles55Membership in an official team, not a subteam, makes you a voter56
MariaDBStatistics posts and a patch log57Nomination by maintainers and stewards58
MySQLRelease notes thank contributors by name59; release posts give counts60Nomination; Oracle names the first committers61
Node.jsCommit authorship and README role lists62Collaborator nomination, with one week for objections63
PHPA credits page names contributors by role64A php.net account and code contributions earn a vote on proposals65
TYPO3A monthly post names contributors66Membership: EUR 10 once, then EUR 10 a year67; Units since October 202668
W3CAcknowledgments sections; translators are named69Members hold committee seats; Invited Experts join groups70
WHATWGYou add your own name to the acknowledgments71No vote; editors decide, four companies rule on appeal7273
WordPressProps and profile badges74Teams elect reps; committers need the lead’s approval7576
Who credits a contribution and what route leads to a say in twelve open source projects, A to Z, as each project’s own pages state it

🧾 Where WordPress credit is automatic

Disclosure: Training badges are assigned by hand, and I held roles on that team.

  • By count: one translated string or one published photo earns a badge.77 Similarly, 50 forum replies earn the support badge.78
  • Hand assigned: Docs, Training, Design, Accessibility, Test and Community badges come from a person.
  • Through props: Core’s handbook says design, writing, user testing and good bug reports deserve props. However, a maintainer has to add them.79
  • Not gathered: the same page says work done in Slack isn’t compiled automatically.
  • Yes, but: for WordPress 7.1, the Test Team thanked 84 testers by username, and 50 of them had no Test Contributor badge yet.80 However, its tracker reads Core tickets only and misses testing done on GitHub.

Check it yourself: open your WordPress.org profile and count the badges. Then ask which ones a person had to hand you.

🗳️ From a first contribution to a say

  • Membership: Drupal Association membership is free on request and votes in the yearly board election.81 Likewise, TYPO3 membership comes with one vote.82 In October 2026, its members also approved Units, contributor groups that will hold their own elections.83
  • Team listing: Joomla’s voters are the members of its official teams. Subteam members don’t vote. That meant 84 and 94 people in two 2026 elections.84
  • Code: PHP gives a vote on proposals to people with a php.net account and code contributions.85
  • Nomination: WordPress teams elect their reps.86 Commit access, however, takes a public nomination and the project lead’s approval.87
  • Organizations first: at W3C, each member organization has one Advisory Committee representative. Individuals can join working groups as Invited Experts.88
  • Nothing documented: Ghost and WHATWG describe no contributor vote.
  • Yes, but: a vote isn’t turnout. For instance, Drupal’s ballots fell from 707 to 528 to 307 in three years.89

🤝 Mentoring programs count heads, not who stays

Disclosure: I helped write the 2023 pilot proposal, and its closing post lists me as a facilitator.

A mentoring program is one answer to a first open source contribution that stalls. So what do the programs publish?

verified

CohortMenteesMentorsCompleted
2023 pilot90131311
2024, first quarter91522844
2024, fourth quarter92Over 1002563
WordPress Contributor Mentorship Program cohorts, as each recap post counts them

The proposal named two marks of success. First, at least 80% of the first cohort would graduate.93 In addition, at least half would keep contributing three months later. The closing post reported the first: 11 of 13 completed.

The fourth quarter recap adds a limit of its own. More than 30 mentees had no assigned mentor.94 It also planned another cohort alongside WordPress 6.8.

A post at the end of 2023 came close to the second mark. It said at least 7 of the 13 kept contributing.95

unknown

I found no post that measures that at three months. It may sit in Slack or in a document I can’t see.

My name is on that proposal, and I don’t know whether the three month check ran. (I’d like to.)

analysis

Still, WordPress publishes more cohort counts than any other project I read. Also, finding no 2025 or 2026 cohort isn’t the same as the program ending.

🧑‍🏫 What other projects publish

verified

  • Joomla: its January 2026 sprint reported more than 150 people in 14 countries.96
  • TYPO3: one documented cohort ran from September 2020 to February 2021, with six mentees and four mentors.97
  • Node.js: its mentorship repository has been archived since February 26, 2022.98
  • PHP: its foundation started an onboarding group in August 2026. So far, its scope is new PHP users.99
  • One study: of 367 Google Summer of Code students, about 15% were still committing a year later. However, about half had committed before the program began.100

analysis

Most of these pages count who started and who finished. Only the study and one WordPress post count who stayed.

🧮 Work that isn’t code: what the credit systems see

Here’s my take, and it’s only mine. Work that isn’t code gets counted last. I taught, wrote lesson plans and organized. In my experience, the counting arrived for commits first and for everything else later.

verified

The evidence is mixed, so here it is in pairs.

  • Drupal’s project lead wrote in 2021 about what its credit data misses. The list included event organizers, speakers and translators.101
  • A 2021 study compared All Contributors lists, which credit work beyond code, with GitHub’s own panel in 2,855 projects. The All Contributors list named more people in 29.5% of them. However, it named fewer people than GitHub’s event data in over 90%.102
  • The PHP Foundation says it hires only for the core language. As a result, documentation, websites and translations sit outside its hiring.103
  • Drupal’s written policy credits triage, testing, design and mentoring. Even so, a maintainer still ticks each name.104
  • WordPress hands out some badges automatically for translation, photos and support.105

unknown

No study I found measures what share of open source work isn’t code. So “last” is my judgment, not a finding. (Nobody I found has measured it, which is its own small irony.)

🚧 Limits: what changed for a first contribution, 2024 to 2026

Disclosure: I was a Training faculty member. I worked with the Sustainability Team on a dashboards project, and a news report quotes me objecting to its closure. I also ran GoDaddy’s Five for the Future contributors until July 2026.

The tables above are a snapshot, and some doors moved. This list comes from a record built around big decisions. Because of that, it leans toward the role that made them.

verified

  • April 2024, Marketing. A post by the Executive Director proposed a Media Corps to get dependable project news to users. It said the Marketing Team would be “temporarily archived.”106 Then, in May 2025, a post ended the Media Corps experiment.107 The Marketing blog still reads inactive, though it still lists work that’s open to contributors.108
  • Summer 2024, Training. The team retired its Faculty Program to “free up people’s time to focus on higher-impact areas.” The same post said many faculty were no longer active, and some contributors could see the program as a barrier.109
  • January 2025, sponsored hours. Automattic cited an “imbalance in how contributions to WordPress are distributed” and WP Engine’s lawsuits. It said it would cut its sponsored time to about 45 hours a week, matching other companies’ pledges.110 In May 2025, it announced a full return.111

🌱 One closure, and its stated reason

source-derived

January 2025, Sustainability. On January 8, 2025,112 the project’s cofounder posted in the team’s Slack channel. The message cited “results of the team so far, and the ROI of time invested.”113 The same message said it was time to dissolve the team.114 In June 2025, the cofounder added that it “was not a solo decision.”115 Today’s team lists omit it, and its blog carries no closure notice.116

🚪 What opened in 2026

verified

Doors opened too. In January 2026, the project’s goals named onboarding.117 By March 2026, the Pathways guides and a contributor dashboard pilot had arrived.118 A Good First Issues board followed in April.119

🧭 Compare two projects before your first open source contribution

Shop around first. You’d compare two phone plans, and your evenings are worth more. So open two contribute pages and ask five questions of each.

  1. Door: what’s the first step that needs no code?
  2. Gate: what do I sign, and does my employer sign too?
  3. Wait: does the project publish how long a first reply takes?
  4. Credit: who records this work, and is it automatic?
  5. Say: does contributing ever earn a vote or a seat?

Run them on real rows. For example, ask question two of MySQL and WHATWG, and you’ll want your employer in the room. Ask question five of Drupal, and you’ll find a free membership with a vote. Meanwhile, question three has one full answer in twelve projects.

Then pick one project and start small.

  • WordPress, with only an account: answer a forum question that has no replies, or suggest one translation.120
  • Drupal: triage one issue report.121
  • W3C: caption or translate one accessibility resource.122

Finally, write down what you find. If a page doesn’t say who credits your work, that’s your first finding. It may be the most useful part of your first open source contribution.

Sketch of a newcomer past a FIRST STEP doormat, facing four doors labeled GATE, WAIT, CREDIT and SAY
The first step, then four doors: the gate, the wait, the credit and the say. Illustration made with ChatGPT at my direction from the series cast.
Text description of the one mat, four doors illustration

What this illustration shows

A colored pencil sketch on ivory paper shows four closed doors in a row, all the same size and shape. Each door has a paper sign taped at eye level. From left to right, the signs read GATE, WAIT, CREDIT and SAY, on purple, teal, yellow and orange doors. Only the color and the sign change from door to door.

In front of the doors lies a woven doormat that reads FIRST STEP. A young contributor in an orange hoodie, dark leggings and high top sneakers stands just past the mat. You see them from behind and a little to the side. They have curly hair in a high bun and a sound processor behind one ear, and they hold a spiral sketchbook at their side.

Meanwhile, they look up at the doors and smile, with small orange marks above their head. So the mat is behind them, and they haven’t picked a door yet.

❓ Quick answers

Do I need to code to make a first open source contribution?

No. All twelve projects here list a first step without code.

What do I have to sign?

It depends on the project. For example, WordPress asks for nothing I could find, and MySQL asks for a signed agreement before it takes code.

Will my name appear anywhere?

Sometimes automatically. More often, a maintainer or a team rep has to add it.

Does a first open source contribution give me a vote?

Not by itself. In Drupal, TYPO3 and Joomla, a route exists. In Ghost and WHATWG, none is documented.

🧭 Where this post sits in the series

This post follows 1.7, What does open source sponsorship buy, and where does WordPress sit among other projects? It uses the labels on the Merge Conflicts methods page. It also closes Season 1 with a job to do: your first open source contribution. Next up is 2.1, which opens Season 2: what does an open source license decide, and what doesn’t it? Follow along on the Merge Conflicts series page.

My relationships that bear on this post
  • Pantheon, my employer, a WordPress and Drupal host.
  • GoDaddy, where I managed the Five for the Future contributors until July 2026.
  • The WordPress Training Team, where I was a faculty member and a team rep. I’m not active on the team now.
  • A 2023 mentorship pilot, whose proposal I helped write.
  • The FAIR Package Manager, where I used to sit on the Technical Steering Committee.
  • One nonprofit, The WPOCC, where I’m one of the founding board members.
Footnotes (122)
  1. WebDevStudios. “WordCamp Mid-Atlantic 2009 Recap.” webdevstudios.com. 2009-05-18. https://webdevstudios.com/2009/05/18/wordcamp-mid-atlantic-2009-recap/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  2. WordCamp NYC 2014. “Schedule.” nyc.wordcamp.org. 2014. https://nyc.wordcamp.org/2014/schedule/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  3. Make WordPress Training. “Recap of August 5 2014 Meeting.” make.wordpress.org. 2014-08-06. https://make.wordpress.org/training/2014/08/06/recap-of-august-5-2014-meeting-status-of/. Accessed 2026-10-28. ↩︎
  4. WordPress IRC logs. “#wordpress-getinvolved, 2014-09-02.” irclogs.wordpress.org. 2014-09-02. https://irclogs.wordpress.org/chanlog.php?channel=wordpress-getinvolved&day=2014-09-02&sort=asc. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  5. WordPress IRC logs. “#wordpress-getinvolved, 2014-08-05.” irclogs.wordpress.org. 2014-08-05. https://irclogs.wordpress.org/chanlog.php?channel=wordpress-getinvolved&day=2014-08-05&sort=asc. Accessed 2026-10-28. ↩︎
  6. Make WordPress. “Volunteer at a WordPress Event.” make.wordpress.org. Updated 2026-10-14. https://make.wordpress.org/handbook/pathways/organize/volunteer-at-a-wordpress-event/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  7. Backdrop CMS. “Contribute.” backdropcms.org. No date shown. https://backdropcms.org/contribute. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  8. Backdrop CMS. “Contribute to Backdrop core.” docs.backdropcms.org. No date shown. https://docs.backdropcms.org/documentation/contribute-to-backdrop-core. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  9. Drupal. “Getting started contributing.” drupal.org. Updated 2025-10-16. https://www.drupal.org/community/contributor-guide/reference-information/quick-info/getting-started-contributing. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  10. Drupal. “Obtaining Git access.” drupal.org. Updated 2025-01-21. https://www.drupal.org/docs/develop/git/setting-up-git-for-drupal/obtaining-git-access. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  11. Ghost. “Contributing.” docs.ghost.org. No date shown. https://docs.ghost.org/contributing. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  12. Ghost. “CONTRIBUTING.md.” github.com. No date shown. https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/blob/main/.github/CONTRIBUTING.md. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  13. Joomla. “Contribute to Joomla.” joomla.org. No date shown. https://www.joomla.org/contribute-to-joomla.html. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  14. Joomla. “Testing Joomla! patches.” docs.joomla.org. No date shown. https://docs.joomla.org/Testing_Joomla!_patches. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  15. MariaDB Foundation. “Contribute.” mariadb.org. No date shown. https://mariadb.org/contribute/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  16. MariaDB. “COMMUNITY_CONTRIBUTIONS.md.” github.com. No date shown. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MariaDB/server/main/COMMUNITY_CONTRIBUTIONS.md. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  17. Oracle. “Contributing to MySQL.” dev.mysql.com. 2026. https://dev.mysql.com/community/contributing/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  18. Oracle. “Contributing to MySQL.” dev.mysql.com. 2026. https://dev.mysql.com/community/contributing/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  19. Node.js. “CONTRIBUTING.md.” github.com. No date shown. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nodejs/node/main/CONTRIBUTING.md. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  20. Node.js. “Pull requests.” github.com. No date shown. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nodejs/node/main/doc/contributing/pull-requests.md. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  21. PHP. “Get Involved.” php.net. No date shown. https://www.php.net/get-involved.php. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  22. PHP. “CONTRIBUTING.md.” github.com. No date shown. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/php/php-src/master/CONTRIBUTING.md. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  23. TYPO3. “Contribute.” typo3.community. 2026. https://typo3.community/contribute. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  24. TYPO3. “Quick Start: Accounts.” docs.typo3.org. No date shown. https://docs.typo3.org/m/typo3/guide-contributionworkflow/main/en-us/Quickstart/2-Accounts.html. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  25. W3C. “Get involved.” w3.org. No date shown. https://www.w3.org/get-involved/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  26. W3C. “W3C Process Document, section 6.2.7.” w3.org. 2025-08-18. https://www.w3.org/policies/process/#contributor-license. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  27. WHATWG. “FAQ: How can I get involved?” whatwg.org. No date shown. https://whatwg.org/faq#get-involved. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  28. WHATWG. “Participant Agreement.” participate.whatwg.org. No date shown. https://participate.whatwg.org/agreement. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  29. Make WordPress. “Contribution Pathways.” make.wordpress.org. Updated 2026-10-14. https://make.wordpress.org/handbook/pathways/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  30. Make WordPress. “Licensing.” make.wordpress.org. 2026-10-26. https://make.wordpress.org/handbook/licensing/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  31. Make WordPress. “About Pathways.” make.wordpress.org. 2026-03-26. https://make.wordpress.org/handbook/pathways/about/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  32. Make WordPress. “Contribution Pathways.” make.wordpress.org. Updated 2026-10-14. https://make.wordpress.org/handbook/pathways/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  33. Make WordPress Meta. “Profile Badges.” make.wordpress.org. Updated 2026-10-20. https://make.wordpress.org/meta/handbook/documentation/profile-badges/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  34. Drupal. “Contribution areas.” drupal.org. 2021-02-14. https://www.drupal.org/community/contributor-guide/contribution-areas. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  35. Joomla. “Help Wanted.” volunteers.joomla.org. No date shown. https://volunteers.joomla.org/help-wanted. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  36. Make WordPress. “Licensing.” make.wordpress.org. 2026-10-26. https://make.wordpress.org/handbook/licensing/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  37. Node.js. “Pull requests.” github.com. No date shown. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nodejs/node/main/doc/contributing/pull-requests.md. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  38. MariaDB. “COMMUNITY_CONTRIBUTIONS.md.” github.com. No date shown. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MariaDB/server/main/COMMUNITY_CONTRIBUTIONS.md. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  39. Oracle. “Contributing to MySQL.” dev.mysql.com. 2026. https://dev.mysql.com/community/contributing/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  40. WHATWG. “Participant Agreement.” participate.whatwg.org. No date shown. https://participate.whatwg.org/agreement. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  41. W3C. “W3C Process Document, section 6.2.7.” w3.org. 2025-08-18. https://www.w3.org/policies/process/#contributor-license. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  42. MariaDB Foundation. “Response Times.” mariadb.org. No date shown. https://mariadb.org/governance/governance-response-times/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  43. MariaDB Foundation. “MariaDB Contribution Statistics, January to June 2026.” mariadb.org. 2026-08-25. https://mariadb.org/mariadb-contribution-statistics-january-june-2026/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  44. Make WordPress Core. “Components.” make.wordpress.org. No date shown. https://make.wordpress.org/core/components/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  45. Velda. “Help us help others contribute to WordPress.” Make WordPress Project. 2026-04-23. https://make.wordpress.org/project/2026/04/23/help-us-help-others-contribute-to-wordpress/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  46. WordPress.org. “WordPress 7.1 ‘Mary Lou’.” wordpress.org. 2026-08-19. https://wordpress.org/news/?p=21420. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  47. Hasan, K. A., Macedo, M., Tian, Y., Adams, B., Ding, S. “Understanding the Time to First Response in GitHub Pull Requests.” arXiv. 2023-04. https://ar5iv.labs.arxiv.org/html/2304.08426. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  48. Node.js. “Pull requests.” github.com. No date shown. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nodejs/node/main/doc/contributing/pull-requests.md. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  49. Backdrop CMS. “Backdrop 1.30 released!” backdropcms.org. 2025-01-14. https://backdropcms.org/news/backdrop-130-released. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  50. Backdrop CMS. “Leadership.” backdropcms.org. No date shown. https://backdropcms.org/leadership. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  51. Drupal. “Granting credit to issue contributors.” drupal.org. Updated 2026-10-29. https://www.drupal.org/docs/develop/issues/issue-procedures-and-etiquette/granting-credit-to-issue-contributors. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  52. Drupal Association. “The Drupal Association Announces 2026 Board Election Winner.” drupal.org. 2026-08-31. https://www.drupal.org/association/blog/the-drupal-association-announces-2026-board-election-winner. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  53. Ghost. “Releases.” github.com. No date shown. https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/releases. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  54. Ghost. “About Ghost.” ghost.org. No date shown. https://ghost.org/about/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  55. Joomla. “Joomla 6.0 and Joomla 5.4 are here!” joomla.org. No date shown. https://www.joomla.org/announcements/release-news/joomla-6-0-and-joomla-5-4-are-here.html. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  56. Open Source Matters. “Election Policy.” opensourcematters.org. No date shown. https://opensourcematters.org/organisation/directors/election-policy.html. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  57. MariaDB. “Log of MariaDB Contributions.” mariadb.com. No date shown. https://mariadb.com/docs/general-resources/community/contributing-participating/log-of-mariadb-contributions. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  58. MariaDB Foundation. “Governance of MariaDB Server.” mariadb.org. 2026-08. https://mariadb.org/governance/governance-framework/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  59. Oracle. “MySQL 9.7 Release Notes: Changes in MySQL 9.7.2.” dev.mysql.com. 2026-07-28. https://dev.mysql.com/doc/relnotes/mysql/9.7/en/news-9-7-2.html. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  60. Oracle. “MySQL 26.7 and the power of community contribution.” blogs.oracle.com. 2026. https://blogs.oracle.com/mysql/mysql-26-7-and-the-power-of-community-contribution. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  61. Oracle. “MySQL Community Governance Model.” dev.mysql.com. 2026. https://dev.mysql.com/community/governance-model/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  62. Node.js. “README.md.” github.com. No date shown. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nodejs/node/main/README.md. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  63. Node.js. “GOVERNANCE.md.” github.com. No date shown. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nodejs/node/main/GOVERNANCE.md. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  64. PHP. “PHP Credits.” php.net. No date shown. https://www.php.net/credits.php. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  65. PHP. “Feature Proposals policy.” github.com. No date shown. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/php/policies/main/feature-proposals.rst. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  66. TYPO3. “TYPO3 Contribution in Numbers: July 2026.” news.typo3.com. 2026. https://news.typo3.com/article/typo3-contribution-in-numbers-july-2026. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  67. TYPO3 Association. “Regular TYPO3 Association Memberships.” typo3.org. No date shown. https://typo3.org/association/membership/regular. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  68. Bolt Lesniak, Mathias. “TYPO3 Association Members Approve New Governance Structure.” TYPO3 News. 2026-10-29. https://news.typo3.com/article/typo3-association-members-approve-new-governance-structure. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  69. W3C. “Translations of W3C standards.” w3.org. No date shown. https://www.w3.org/translations/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  70. W3C. “W3C Process Document: Advisory Committee votes.” w3.org. 2025-08-18. https://www.w3.org/policies/process/#ACVotes. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  71. WHATWG. “CONTRIBUTING.md, HTML Standard.” github.com. No date shown. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/whatwg/html/main/.github/CONTRIBUTING.md. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  72. WHATWG. “Steering Group Agreement.” whatwg.org. No date shown. https://whatwg.org/sg-agreement. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  73. WHATWG. “Workstream Policy.” whatwg.org. No date shown. https://whatwg.org/workstream-policy. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  74. Make WordPress Meta. “Profile Badges.” make.wordpress.org. Updated 2026-10-20. https://make.wordpress.org/meta/handbook/documentation/profile-badges/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  75. Make WordPress. “Team Reps.” make.wordpress.org. Updated 2026-09-28. https://make.wordpress.org/updates/team-reps/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  76. Desrosiers, Jonathan. “Aligning Committer-Level Access Across the Code Base.” Make WordPress Core. 2024-07-22. https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/07/22/aligning-committer-level-access-across-the-code-base/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  77. Make WordPress Meta. “Profile Badges.” make.wordpress.org. Updated 2026-10-20. https://make.wordpress.org/meta/handbook/documentation/profile-badges/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  78. Make WordPress. “Answer WordPress Support Questions.” make.wordpress.org. Updated 2026-10-26. https://make.wordpress.org/handbook/pathways/write/answer-wordpress-questions/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  79. Make WordPress Core. “Contributor Attribution (Props).” make.wordpress.org. Updated 2025-12-22. https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/best-practices/contributor-attribution-props/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  80. Make WordPress Test. “Thank You to the WordPress 7.1 Test Contributors.” make.wordpress.org. 2026-09-18. https://make.wordpress.org/test/2026/09/18/thank-you-to-the-wordpress-7-1-test-contributors/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  81. Drupal Association. “Individual membership.” drupal.org. No date shown. https://www.drupal.org/association/individual-membership. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  82. TYPO3 Association. “Membership.” typo3.org. No date shown. https://typo3.org/association/membership. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  83. Bolt Lesniak, Mathias. “TYPO3 Association Members Approve New Governance Structure.” TYPO3 News. 2026-10-29. https://news.typo3.com/article/typo3-association-members-approve-new-governance-structure. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  84. Open Source Matters. “Election Policy.” opensourcematters.org. No date shown. https://opensourcematters.org/organisation/directors/election-policy.html. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  85. PHP. “Feature Proposals policy.” github.com. No date shown. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/php/policies/main/feature-proposals.rst. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  86. Make WordPress. “Team Reps.” make.wordpress.org. Updated 2026-09-28. https://make.wordpress.org/updates/team-reps/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  87. Desrosiers, Jonathan. “Aligning Committer-Level Access Across the Code Base.” Make WordPress Core. 2024-07-22. https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/07/22/aligning-committer-level-access-across-the-code-base/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  88. W3C. “W3C Process Document: Advisory Committee votes.” w3.org. 2025-08-18. https://www.w3.org/policies/process/#ACVotes. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  89. Drupal Association. “The Drupal Association Announces 2026 Board Election Winner.” drupal.org. 2026-08-31. https://www.drupal.org/association/blog/the-drupal-association-announces-2026-board-election-winner. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  90. Hari Shanker R. “The Inaugural Cohort of the WordPress Contributor Mentorship Program has Concluded.” Make WordPress Project. 2023-08-11. https://make.wordpress.org/project/2023/08/11/the-inaugural-cohort-of-the-wordpress-contributor-mentorship-program-has-concluded/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  91. Hari Shanker R. “WordPress Contributor Mentorship: 2024 Q1 Cohort Graduates.” Make WordPress Community. 2024-04-08. https://make.wordpress.org/community/2024/04/08/wordpress-contributor-mentorship-2024-q1-cohort-graduates/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  92. Make WordPress Community. “WordPress Contributor Mentorship: 2024 Q4 Cohort Graduates.” make.wordpress.org. 2024-11-21. https://make.wordpress.org/community/2024/11/21/wordpress-contributor-mentorship-2024-q4-cohort-graduates/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  93. Hari Shanker R. “WordPress Contributor Mentorship Program: Pilot Program Proposal.” Make WordPress Project. 2023-05-17. https://make.wordpress.org/project/2023/05/17/wordpress-contributor-mentorship-program-pilot-program-proposal/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  94. Make WordPress Community. “WordPress Contributor Mentorship: 2024 Q4 Cohort Graduates.” make.wordpress.org. 2024-11-21. https://make.wordpress.org/community/2024/11/21/wordpress-contributor-mentorship-2024-q4-cohort-graduates/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  95. Make WordPress Project. “WordPress End of Year Celebrations.” make.wordpress.org. 2023-12-22. https://make.wordpress.org/project/2023/12/22/wordpress-end-of-year-celebrations/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  96. Joomla Community Magazine. “Pizza Bugs & Fun 2026 first edition: event recap.” magazine.joomla.org. 2026-02-19. https://magazine.joomla.org/all-issues/february-2026/pizza-bugs-fun-2026-a-global-joomla-sprint-powered-by-community. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  97. TYPO3. “The International TYPO3 Mentorship Program.” typo3.org. Updated 2021-02. https://typo3.org/community/contribute/mentorship. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  98. Node.js. “nodejs/mentorship.” github.com. Archived 2022-02-26. https://github.com/nodejs/mentorship. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  99. The PHP Foundation. “Kicking off the PHP Onboarding Initiative.” thephp.foundation. 2026-08-03. https://thephp.foundation/blog/2026/08/03/kicking-off-the-php-onboarding-initiative/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  100. Silva, J. O., Wiese, I. S., Steinmacher, I., Gerosa, M. A. “Students’ Engagement in Open Source Projects: An Analysis of Google Summer of Code.” SBES ’17. 2017. https://doi.org/10.1145/3131151.3131156. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  101. Buytaert, Dries. “Who sponsors Drupal development? (2020-2021 edition).” dri.es. 2021. https://dri.es/who-sponsors-drupal-development-2021. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  102. Young, J.-G., Casari, A., McLaughlin, K., Trujillo, M. Z., Hébert-Dufresne, L., Bagrow, J. P. “Which contributions count? Analysis of attribution in open source.” MSR 2021. 2021. https://ar5iv.labs.arxiv.org/html/2103.11007. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  103. The PHP Foundation. “2027 Applications for Contractors are Open.” thephp.foundation. 2026-09-30. https://thephp.foundation/blog/2026/09/30/applications-for-2027-are-open/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  104. Drupal. “Granting credit to issue contributors.” drupal.org. Updated 2026-10-29. https://www.drupal.org/docs/develop/issues/issue-procedures-and-etiquette/granting-credit-to-issue-contributors. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  105. Make WordPress Meta. “Profile Badges.” make.wordpress.org. Updated 2026-10-20. https://make.wordpress.org/meta/handbook/documentation/profile-badges/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  106. Make WordPress Marketing. “WordPress Media Corps Next Steps.” make.wordpress.org. 2024-04-29. https://make.wordpress.org/marketing/2024/04/29/wordpress-media-corps-next-steps/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  107. Make WordPress Media Corps. “Ending the WordPress Media Corps Experiment.” make.wordpress.org. 2025-05-09. https://make.wordpress.org/media-corps/2025/05/09/ending-the-wordpress-media-corps-experiment/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  108. Make WordPress Marketing. “Make WordPress Marketing.” make.wordpress.org. No date shown. https://make.wordpress.org/marketing/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  109. Presner, Kathryn. “Project Thread: Retiring the Faculty Program.” Make WordPress Training. 2024-07-02. https://make.wordpress.org/training/2024/07/02/project-thread-retiring-the-faculty-program/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  110. Automattic. “Aligning Automattic’s Sponsored Contributions to WordPress.” automattic.com. 2025-01-09. https://automattic.com/2025/01/09/aligning-automattics-sponsored-contributions-to-wordpress/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  111. Automattic. “Returning to Core.” automattic.com. 2025-05-29. https://automattic.com/2025/05/29/returning-to-core/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  112. Lewis, Chris. “The disbanding of the WordPress Sustainability Team.” Wholegrain Digital. 2025-01-13. https://www.wholegraindigital.com/blog/the-disbanding-of-the-wordpress-sustainability-team/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  113. Morey, Rae. “Mullenweg Shuts Down WordPress Sustainability Team, Igniting Backlash.” The Repository. 2025-01-10. https://www.therepository.email/mullenweg-shuts-down-wordpress-sustainability-team-igniting-backlash. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  114. Smith, Hannah. “Digital sustainability in WordPress.” Green Web Foundation. 2025-01-10. https://www.thegreenwebfoundation.org/news/digital-sustainability-in-wordpress/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  115. The Repository. “WordPress Leadership Says ‘No’ to Bringing Back Sustainability Team Despite Public Plea and Community Petition.” The Repository. 2025-06-13. https://www.therepository.email/wordpress-leadership-says-no-to-bringing-back-sustainability-team-despite-public-plea-and-community-petition. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  116. Make WordPress Sustainability. “Make WordPress Sustainability.” make.wordpress.org. No date shown. https://make.wordpress.org/sustainability/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  117. Make WordPress Project. “Big Picture Goals for 2026.” make.wordpress.org. 2026-01-23. https://make.wordpress.org/project/2026/01/23/big-picture-goals-for-2026/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  118. Make WordPress. “Contributor Dashboard Pilot.” make.wordpress.org. 2026-02-24. https://make.wordpress.org/handbook/contributor-dashboard/contributor-dashboard-pilot/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  119. Velda. “Help us help others contribute to WordPress.” Make WordPress Project. 2026-04-23. https://make.wordpress.org/project/2026/04/23/help-us-help-others-contribute-to-wordpress/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  120. Make WordPress. “Contribution Pathways.” make.wordpress.org. Updated 2026-10-14. https://make.wordpress.org/handbook/pathways/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  121. Drupal. “Getting started contributing.” drupal.org. Updated 2025-10-16. https://www.drupal.org/community/contributor-guide/reference-information/quick-info/getting-started-contributing. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
  122. W3C Web Accessibility Initiative. “Translate WAI Resources.” w3.org. Updated 2026-01-30. https://www.w3.org/WAI/about/translating/. Accessed 2026-11-11. ↩︎
, , ,

FIELD NOTES

Get the next field note in your inbox

A weekly note from the open-source frontier — what I’m building, breaking, and learning. No spam, no AI summaries, real writing from a real human.

Subscribe →
See past issues

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Your post must include a link to this post.

How does this work?
Write a response on your own website and include a link to this post. Then submit your response’s URL here. Your response may appear here after moderation. To update or remove it, edit or delete your original post and submit the same URL again. Learn more about Webmentions.

More from the blog