Re: Metaproblem, part 3

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

Eric Abrahamsen writes:

 > The only reason I chimed in

I need to get my finger off the "F" key.  I should have replied to
somebody else, as you definitely did not claim hostility on anybody's
part.  My apologies.

 > is because I'm one of those who would love to contribute more
 > substantially, but needs guidance. For example, I've got the basics
 > of an epub-editing mode in place. I'd like it to be a solid
 > library, and would likely need assistance to get it there.

Sure, and you'll find plenty of willing assistance once you figure out
how to ask for it.  Or you could just submit your code. :-) The people
you see posting here day-in-and-day-out will help you and *not* drop
the ball when they get bored.  Some more than others, of course, and
more at some times than others.

 > What's in it for the mentors and core developers is that, a few years
 > from now, I'd like to be making larger contributions to the Emacs core.
 > Mentoring would help me get there.

Sure.  My experience is that that works best with somebody who is, as
you are, already somewhat committed to the project.  But as a couple
people pointed out, mentoring anybody who comes in is not a profitable
strategy for adding core contributors (my definition is pretty broad,
that's anybody with some track record, who hangs out on project
channels, and who proposes to make "larger" contributions (plural) in
the future -- so the contributor you hope to be would be a core
contributor in my book).  That doesn't mean nobody will mentor you,
just that they'll do it at first for other reasons (not to forget that
it's a good way to sound out the actual intentions of the prospective
contributor).

Steve