Polis: Add "How to Participate" section to README

[patcon]

Re-ticketed from https://github.com/pol-is/polisServer/issues/80#issuecomment-627446352

This is more about clarifying our comms channels than the specific types of tasks that we could use help with.

Inspo: https://tomesh.net/get-involved/

As I'm thinking, order could be an idealized path of how a newcomer might become more engaged, kinda like a website engagement funnel.

Would love for this to be high up in README, as opposed to buried in CONTRIBUTING.md (which ppl unfortunately often don't read)

Off the top of my head:

• say hi in our Gitter chat
• find a first-timers-only issue (?)
• attend a weekly call (orientation?)
• drop into a pairing session (?) re: https://github.com/pol-is/polisServer/issues/241#issuecomment-626104109 cc @ballPointPenguin

Anyone have any other onboarding docs that inspire them? Any ideas or feedback?

[ballPointPenguin]

I'd rather see a Good for New Contributors label than first-timers-only. More inviting. Less exclusive.

[ballPointPenguin]

I take some inspiration from the issue labels in the ember.js project https://github.com/emberjs/ember.js/labels?sort=count-desc
, which is based off this StandardIssueLabels resource https://github.com/wagenet/StandardIssueLabels

[ballPointPenguin]

I also really apprciate how this document is written, for how to contribute:
https://github.com/emberjs/ember.js/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md

[colinmegill]

I like Ben's phrasing & agree

On Tue, May 12, 2020 at 12:56 PM Benjamin Rosas [e-mail]
wrote:

I take some inspiration from the issue labels in the ember.js project
https://github.com/emberjs/ember.js/labels?sort=count-desc

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[patcon]

Thanks! Liking those standard labels!

re: newcomer label. Would it be ok to kick this to #nextcall before settling on decision?

I'll admit I feel quite partial to first-timers-only, in part because it's really explicit that they're intended _only_ for the very first-timers [EDIT: to open source]. At their best, setup of these issues is supposed to take a lot of maintainer attention, for tasks that can be trivially completed in sometimes a few minutes. I worry the ROI (for returns on the setup time) makes sense only when the very newest ppl engage, without mixed messages to other contributors/skills.

jywarren: It takes a LOT of work to make a good issue of this type, and we often walk through each step required to actually make the requested changes -- the point is to help newcomers understand that a) they're welcome, and b) what the collaboration workflow looks like. -- Public Lab: Create a welcoming "first-timers-only" issue to invite new software contributors

@jywarren might you have a hot-take on this? did the label name (first-timers-only or something like Good for New Contributors / good first issue) seem to matter in your experience at @publiclab?

I'll copy this into an existing ticket about newcomer labels :) https://github.com/pol-is/polisServer/issues/225

[patcon]

For now, in the docs, I'll just stick with pointing ppl to our active issue queue. Sound ok?

[jywarren]

Yes, we've found that first-timers-only really creates a welcoming space where people feel they belong, and there is no ambiguity about whether an issue is best solved by someone with more experience or knowledge. The very purpose is to make newcomers feel welcome and help them go through the steps for the first time. You can see this in context a bit more at https://code.publiclab.org

🙌 ❤️

[colinmegill]

Ah! This makes sense, can appreciate the distinction.

On Tue, May 12, 2020, 3:44 PM Jeffrey Warren [e-mail]
wrote:

Yes, we've found that first-timers-only really creates a welcoming space
where people feel they belong, and there is no ambiguity about whether an
issue is best solved by someone with more experience or knowledge. The very
purpose is to make newcomers feel welcome and help them go through the
steps for the first time. You can see this in context a bit more at
https://code.publiclab.org

🙌 ❤️

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[patcon]

Docs in-progress here: https://github.com/pol-is/polisServer/compare/dev...patcon:feature/get-involved