PSA: Hacktoberfest is soon upon us

[devsnek]

Info here: https://hacktoberfest.digitalocean.com/details

Key take-aways for triage on our side:

• Mark spam PRs or invalid PRs with the [invalid] label.

cc @nodejs/collaborators

[MylesBorins]

So... I'm going to be a tiny bit of a stick in the mud. I love the idea behind hacktoberfest, but don't love the amount of noise it creates and physical waste (lots of tshirts).

How does the project feel about perhaps explicitly not participating this year?

[MylesBorins]

Looking at the website it also looks like there is an option to plant a tree rather than receive a T-Shirt

https://hacktoberfest.digitalocean.com/

I wonder if there is a way for us to request that Node.js projects not be used to receive a t-shirt. I'm not trying to be a grinch, but I am bothered by the waste created.

edit: I have been a proponent of limiting wasteful swag in a number of events I've participated in, so just want to make it clear this is not specifically about hacktober fest, but more about an industry wide change I'd like to see. I'd rather see a t-shirt donated to a shelter than sent to a dev.

[davisjam]

re: waste -- Think of the audience, though. Many participants are university students who are getting exposed to open-source for the first time. For example, this year I am asking my students to participate in Hacktoberfest. University students like T-shirts. It's a nice way to show group association and find friends.

[himself65]

re: waste -- Think of the audience, though. Many participants are university students who are getting exposed to open-source for the first time. For example, this year I am asking my students to participate in Hacktoberfest. University students like T-shirts. It's a nice way to show group association and find friends.

+1. Last year I just an open-source newbie. And I attended this Hacktoberfest, submitted PRs to many projects(node.js, vue-next...), and also a university student :)

It a nice inspire for the learner to participate in open source

[devsnek]

I think for hacktoberfest's target audience, t-shirts make a lot of sense. free high quality clothing is great for students on tight budgets and can be worn for many many years (i.e. it is not waste). they also provide a plant a tree option, and of course you're free to also get the shirt and then donate it to a shelter.

I could, on the other hand, see the argument that the stickers and whatnot are wasteful.

[Qard]

I think most of us already super active devs that have a billion conference shirts already probably aren't participating or at least aren't the main participants. And the plant a tree option is a nice alternative this year.

I don't think we should avoid participating, but it might be good to make a statement encouraging people to go for the plant-a-tree option. Maybe we could inventivize the tree-planting thing somehow, making it an event within an event of some sort.

[mmarchini]

I don't think we should avoid participating, but it might be good to make a statement encouraging people to go for the plant-a-tree option. Maybe we could inventivize the tree-planting thing somehow, making it an event within an event of some sort.

@nodejs/community-committee @nodejs/social is that something you'd be interested in helping?

[ahmadawais]

I don't think that T-Shirts are a waste. It's clothing. We all wear them. I say this literally while wearing the 2019 Hacktoberfest T-Shirt right now. Open source is dry. Many students and developers are not attracted to it easily. Working for free, giving up your code, never (or hardly ever) getting paid for it, getting judged by strangers for code-quality — the list goes on. Then comes Hacktoberfest, where we celebrate both the newcomers and the existing members of the FOSS (Free & Open Source Software) community.

And now there's an option to plant a tree for those who would otherwise waste that T-Shirt (or think of it as waste). I do agree on the code quality issues and noise — but that's human nature. We can't change that.

[MylesBorins]

Thanks for sharing your perspectives everyone... it is definitely easy to lose perspective after doing this for many years. I like the suggestion of us making a Hacktober statement, perhaps setting some guidelines for participants and encouraging those who don't need the clothing to consider planting a tree instead. That seems like a nice balance of being respectful to those who could use the clothing while nudging those who might be able to skip on it.

[boneskull]

Hacktoberfest 2017 helped SendGrid tremendously!

Hacktoberfest contributions accounted for work that would have taken our documentation team over 7 months, and our DX engineer almost 3 1/2 years. I think it’s fair to say that getting involved in Hacktoberfest has been highly beneficial for SendGrid and our customers.

Wow! They really saved a ton of money!!

[mmarchini]

Great, we can save a ton of money too! oh wait...

_{sorry I had to}

[Trott]

RTYI: https://hacktoberfest.digitalocean.com/hacktoberfest-update

[Trott]

Seems like this is close-able. Re-open if I'm being hasty, of course.