3 ms·

I've seen this - it's tiring even at low volume. Goes something like: Someone creates a garbage issue. Someone else asks to be assigned. Someone from the proje

I've seen this - it's tiring even at low volume. Goes something like: Someone creates a garbage issue. Someone else asks to be assigned. Someone from the project may say "we don't assign issues" (this step has zero effect over later steps). Someone else submits a PR. Maybe someone else will submit another PR. Maintainers then agonise how they can close issues and PR(s) without being rude or discouraging to genuine efforts.

nchmy 9mo ago
This is precisely what we've seen
thephyber 9mo ago
Those maintainers should be using LLMs to crate their breakup letter with the Issue/PR submitters!
halapro 9mo ago
You've been getting PRs? All I've ever seen is "can you assign this issue you me" spam and then disappear. I was nice to them for years but now I just delete the comment and block the users.
- nchmy 9mo ago
  Yeah, the "can you assign the issue to me" is the most common. I don't even understand where it came from - does anyone ever actually formally assign issues to anyone? But they absolutely also create PRs even if you say "don't create a PR. You don't know what you're talking about"
  - halapro 9mo ago
    I'm pretty sure there's some guru/teacher that gives assignments to their students. The assignment is most likely "find a repo and ask if you can work on it." The student then either finds something easier to work on or gets points just for trying.
emmaviolet 9mo ago
GitHub PM here working on how we can make this problem feel better for maintainers. Really appreciate how tiring this can be, especially when even low volume is sustained for many months. Would love your thoughts on some of the things we're thinking about: - Would it help to disable all PRs? All non-contributor PRs? - Would a "close as admin" button help address the issue of not wanting to be rude or discouraging? - What about Copilot doing an initial review and proposing to close anything that doesn't meet contribution guidelines - would that help a "close this" decision feel less personal?
- ryandrake 9mo ago
  As someone on the other side of the PR, the current situation makes things awkward for me, too. Occasionally, I'll make an actual fix to scratch some particular itch I have with the software, and I'm hesitant to even open a PR, because it's just going to 1. pile yet another PR onto the maintainer, and 2. might get dismissed out of hand because it's mistaken for AI slop or other low-effort spam that these attackers are doing. So, I usually just fork, make the change in my own repo, and leave it at that. Disabling PRs or limiting PRs to "contributors" would be a signal to me that I should just keep doing that and not contribute back to the main repo.
  - boredtofears 9mo ago
    Yeah, I kinda stopped involving myself in other people's OSS projects a while ago for that reason. If I have an itch to scratch, I just use my fork. It usually feels like my itch isn't theirs and I always feel like I'm imposing on the maintainer's vision or at best just taking time away from them. I think maintainers have a lot of pressure to accept things because "open source!".
    - moraesc 9mo ago
      A couple questions here - would more clear guidelines in the CONTRIBUTING.md file help in clarifying project direction and what contributions would be most valuable? Is there a better way for projects to indicate what issues should be prioritized? Do you ever want to run your contribution ideas past a maintainer before opening up a PR and if so do you ever do that? I'm curious if your itch may actually be something they're looking for too but it's not made clear in an effective way.

nchmy 9mo ago

This is precisely what we've seen

thephyber 9mo ago

Those maintainers should be using LLMs to crate their breakup letter with the Issue/PR submitters!

halapro 9mo ago

You've been getting PRs? All I've ever seen is "can you assign this issue you me" spam and then disappear. I was nice to them for years but now I just delete the comment and block the users.

nchmy 9mo ago
Yeah, the "can you assign the issue to me" is the most common. I don't even understand where it came from - does anyone ever actually formally assign issues to anyone? But they absolutely also create PRs even if you say "don't create a PR. You don't know what you're talking about"
- halapro 9mo ago
  I'm pretty sure there's some guru/teacher that gives assignments to their students. The assignment is most likely "find a repo and ask if you can work on it." The student then either finds something easier to work on or gets points just for trying.

emmaviolet 9mo ago

GitHub PM here working on how we can make this problem feel better for maintainers. Really appreciate how tiring this can be, especially when even low volume is sustained for many months. Would love your thoughts on some of the things we're thinking about: - Would it help to disable all PRs? All non-contributor PRs? - Would a "close as admin" button help address the issue of not wanting to be rude or discouraging? - What about Copilot doing an initial review and proposing to close anything that doesn't meet contribution guidelines - would that help a "close this" decision feel less personal?

ryandrake 9mo ago
As someone on the other side of the PR, the current situation makes things awkward for me, too. Occasionally, I'll make an actual fix to scratch some particular itch I have with the software, and I'm hesitant to even open a PR, because it's just going to 1. pile yet another PR onto the maintainer, and 2. might get dismissed out of hand because it's mistaken for AI slop or other low-effort spam that these attackers are doing. So, I usually just fork, make the change in my own repo, and leave it at that. Disabling PRs or limiting PRs to "contributors" would be a signal to me that I should just keep doing that and not contribute back to the main repo.
- boredtofears 9mo ago
  Yeah, I kinda stopped involving myself in other people's OSS projects a while ago for that reason. If I have an itch to scratch, I just use my fork. It usually feels like my itch isn't theirs and I always feel like I'm imposing on the maintainer's vision or at best just taking time away from them. I think maintainers have a lot of pressure to accept things because "open source!".
  - moraesc 9mo ago
    A couple questions here - would more clear guidelines in the CONTRIBUTING.md file help in clarifying project direction and what contributions would be most valuable? Is there a better way for projects to indicate what issues should be prioritized? Do you ever want to run your contribution ideas past a maintainer before opening up a PR and if so do you ever do that? I'm curious if your itch may actually be something they're looking for too but it's not made clear in an effective way.