Actions like [1] cannot possibly be considered a good thing, but I certainly
understand the sentiment behind it. Attracting new contributors is probably
the most vital task of any collaborative volunteer project; without them,
any such program is doomed to failure. This is an issue that affects
Wikimedia as a whole, but MW development is arguably one of the least
successful subprojects at this activity.
Who is responsible for commit access requests now that Brion has left? That
applies both in the long-term, once the new CTO is hired, and in the short
term, for those requests that are in the queue Right Now. Whoever is
responsible, needs as a matter of urgency to both clear the current queue,
and to establish an ongoing procedure to clear it more regularly in future.
Brion's last review was on 4th August, and left several requests unresolved.
One of those requests is now over four months old. This is not an
acceptable or sustainable gauntlet to put eager new contributors through.
--HM
[1]
http://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Commit_access_requests&curid…