Ah October

The month of fall, pumpkin spice lattes (or anything pumpkin-flavored), Halloween, and ... Hacktoberfest. For some open-source maintainers, this is like a month-long trick-or-treat adventure, a chance to collect feature updates, recruit new contributors, and experiment with new ideas. But for others, it's more like a month-long horror film, complete with unassigned Pull Requests lurking in the dark, unwarranted DMs from contributors creeping up like ghosts, and issues that are so confusing that it makes their head spin like Linda Blair in The Exorcist. Feeling spooked? Don't be, my fellow maintainer-in-training! In this post, I share four strategies that have helped me survive the depths of Hacktoberfest-Hell. 👻🎃

Strategy 1: Contribute from Time to Time

I always say, “If you want to make sure your food is good, taste it first.” The same philosophy applies to maintaining open-source projects. Contributing regularly to your project equips you with insights to review others' contributions effectively. For instance, I decided to conjure up an entry about New York City Pizza in OpenSauced’s Pizza Verse repository

Navigating this dark and cheesy path was a bit of a bewitching journey, as it had been a while since my last contribution to the project. But with some spellwork and determination, I got the hang of it. Since then, I've been casting better code review spells.

Contributing from time to time is just one of the tricks to surviving Hacktoberfest. Now, let's unearth another one, shall we? 👻🍕

Strategy 2: Avoid the Spam Label Spell

As tempting as labeling unassigned PRs as "spam" may be, let's explore a different spell shall we? I was wandering through the PRs tab in LinksHub

Suddenly, I stumbled upon an unassigned PR. At first, I was going to do the Begone spell. It's where I close the PR and leave a brief comment explaining why it was closed, along with a link to the project’s Contributing Guide.

But then, as if summoned by a spectral force, the contributor returned from the shadows and offered a piece of advice. They suggested using the draft feature instead, as closing the PR causes new contributors to run away in fear. From that eerie encounter onwards, I've been placing unassigned PRs in draft mode. Much to my surprise, most contributors have willingly heeded the spirit of the guidelines and thanked me for my patience.

So, remember, giving contributors a second chance can be like offering them a potion of redemption. You'll be amazed by how it can transform their experience from a nightmare to a magical paradise.

Alright, now that you've conquered level 2, let's journey to level 3 and uncover a mystical tool that not only makes code reviews easier but also keeps your sanity intact amidst the Hacktoberfest madness. 👻🧙‍♂️🔮

Strategy 3: Use the reply bank spell

I've said this before, and I'll say it again – the Saved Replies feature on GitHub is like a magical elixir from the tech gods. It's your secret cauldron of comments, ready to be summoned in the Review Section of contributors’ Pull Requests, saving you from the scariest monster of all: a massive headache.

For instance, in my role as the maintainer of OpenSauced's guestbook

, I often encountered recurring issues like merge conflicts and missing information in PR templates. Tired of typing the same phrases over and over, like “We don’t accept spam PRs” and “We just merged some new PRs. Can you resolve the merge conflicts in your branch?”, I brewed them into templates and saved them replies. Now, I whip them out whenever these issues creep up.

If you want to master this enchanting feature, check out Creating a Saved Reply on GitHub’s docs.

Before I release you into the wild Hacktoberfest night, there's one more tool in our arsenal to help you survive your first Hacktoberfest. 🎃🔮

Strategy 4: Do the Enchantment of Benevolent Phrases

Maintaining open-source projects during Hacktoberfest can be a real spell-drainer, but bear with me. The contributors in this event are often newcomers, brimming with excitement and nerves, and they thirst for our words of encouragement.

One day, a contributor at LinksHub admitted their nervousness and guilt for not following the guidelines after I did the draft spell on their PR. I wanted to cheer them up so I shared my own experiences as a newcomer and compared making a Pull Request to preparing a meal. Treated with care, a contribution nourishes the project and enhances its beauty.

The result? The contributor thanked me with enthusiasm and continued to bless our project with their contributions. It's a testament to the magical power of kind words, which hold the potential to shape one's experience and guide them along their open-source journey. 🌟🔮📜

There it is my maintainers-in-training, 4 ways to survive Hacktoberfest. Now remember, whether it’s an awesome experience or a month-long time in open source, Hacktoberfest is an event of open source celebration, so enjoy it as much as possible. If you’re looking for other ways to survive Hacktoberfest, join Github’s maintainer community and talk to other survivors in their Hacktoberfest thread.

Credit

Photo by Neven Krcmarek on Unsplash