Hey #opensource friends! What are your thoughts on measuring #contribution to open source projects? Is that a worthy pursuit? Is there a methodology that works well? I'm mostly only familiar with the #Drupal credit system, but I am curious about these types of metrics in general.
@katherined In #WordPress, we have Five for the Future: https://wordpress.org/five-for-the-future/
The results have been mixed, but generally it's been good.
@katherined No problem. Happy to provide more context if you need it.
@alexstandiford I'm also thinking in broader terms, and curious about data for other projects, aggregated stats, etc. Like, which companies contribute back to open source as a whole? How does corporate contribution compare to individual contribution, etc.
@katherined There’s tracking on which companies contribute, and they’re featured based on the contribution amounts on the site, as well as who in that company contributed.
The real challenge is understanding what constitutes a contribution.
@alexstandiford That's my experience as well.
@katherined That particular issue has vexed WordPress, but they're working on it: https://wptavern.com/five-for-the-future-program-set-to-adopt-official-definition-for-pledges-and-contributions
@katherined definitely hard to measure automated and based on metadata only, since contributions can vary greatly. E.g. issue tracking bonus systems lead to behavioural changes to optimise your footprint. Identifying high value contributions being well thought and based on experience is hard, also things like community building etc are difficult...
@marwe I wholeheartedly agree!
@katherined I prefer creating metrics to solve problems. What is the problem you want to solve?
@katherined we measure a wide range of contributions in @mautic using https://savannahhq.com (open source, available on GitHub). We use it to track growth, as a criteria for joining our partners program, and to give recognition to individuals and companies. I've done a few talks about it this year which are at https://speaking.ruthcheesley.co.uk/presentations in case that's helpful!
@rcheesley @mautic very, thanks!
@katherined I'm still torn if the credit system for Drupal is +1 or -1.
It's +1 for attributing multiple users who ensured an issue came to fruition versus commit authorship.
I think it's broken in how we tied it to the organizations empowering the individuals. Let individuals say they're doing it for their employer or some other organization. But ranking in the services listing is wrong.
@mglaman nice to see you over here!
@mglaman and thanks for the input. It’s something I’ve been thinking about lately in a much broader sense. How to you measure a “healthy” open ecosystem? Do we need to? What’s the right way to balance corporate and community interests? Why does Dimples like to wake me up by making loud digging noises in the middle of the night? These are my Friday night thoughts. #oneofthesethingsisnotliketheother
@katherined The only other example I've personally seen is the karma system that was (and maybe still is) used by the PHP project. Before the RFC process was instituted, I recall that the karma system seemed to hamper the language's development more than help it.