I haven’t re-read that PR discussion but have followed many here and elsewhere over the years and haven’t thought any of them were bikeshedding (which doesn’t mean that one wasn’t, because I haven’t gone back to look).
My observation is that almost all, and certainly the MaidSafe discussions are constructive and sensible. I often read them just to learn things including how to contribute to or maintain a shared codebase.
Having recently been on both sides, both of which are new to me I can see the difficulties. I both experienced the emotional side of being asked to make changes, and I think saw a contributor end up unhappy when I asked for changes as maintainer (though they haven’t said as much, so I’m left guessing).
In neither case do I think there was anything that should have been done or said differently, yet in both instances a contributor (me and probably a contributor to my code) had a difficult experience.
I am open to feedback, in case as maintainer I’ve missed opportunities to do better.
I didn’t feel the need to feedback to the maintainer wrt my PR (for wasm-git) because I don’t think there was anything he could have said better. But it was still hard to hear and respond when from his point of view he wanted and asked me to do more things before merging. I had not realised they would need doing and so was thinking my code would just be merged, me given a pat on the back and able to go and tackle the next thing on my list.
In the end I did the first change he asked for, or part of it, he helped so much that in fact it was really him. The second thing I didn’t want to do, and he accepted that, merged the code and left it as something which could be done later by someone else.
So I get both sides of this, and in particular how hard it can be for a contributor, particularly as someone new to this kind of collaboration like myself. As a maintainer, my experience as contributor meant I was trying really hard to be both clear and also not unreasonable, either in what I was asking our how I did so. Yet it still looks like that contributor was left feeling unhappy about the process. Although as noted I’m speculating because I haven’t receive feedback about how I handled this.
So @anon57419684, I get you! This can be hard for contributor and maintainer. As contributors we can put a lot of effort into something, and then have to go through a process of others looking at something we think is ready and they raise things we didn’t anticipate, some we may think are unreasonable etc. That’s a vulnerable situation, and I’m not sure how I’m going to handle it myself when I do get a maintainer who’s not experienced, not clear, or just not socially skilled etc. I think what I will try to do is first be objective, and then decide if I think it’s worth me offering feedback. I might just walk away, if I don’t think it’s worth my time. It will also depend on how important my contributing is to me in a particular case.
So I think it’s great that you found a way to give feedback, and that as I’ve come to expect the response from MaidSafe developers is receptive even if they don’t necessarily agree.
One thing I know is that both sides of this are much trickier than I’d imagined! So I have a new respect for maintainers and contributors, and I’m even more amazed and more grateful for all that they do. Something important I’ve learned is that it helps to be on both sides, as maintainer of some things and contributor to others.
Well done and thank you all of you!