tl;dr: Please help in getting https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/38638 resolved and ensure that your code doesn't cause additional issues for translators.
At translatewiki.net we have an [ask question] button for translators, and they have really used it to report various kinds of issues with the messages they are translating. In fact, we barely have time to sort those things into correct places, let alone poking developers to act on them. We are experimenting with different ways to improve this process – the last experiment is using Semantic MediaWiki to track open issues, see [1].
Basically the backlog is growing, and we need some help to reverse the direction. We have tried filing bugs and poking developers on IRC and via email, but that is not scaling anymore, moreover bugs and pokes are sometimes ignored[2].
There are many ways you can help: 1. Follow the best i18n practices like documenting new messages as they are added [4]. Some of you may have noticed that we have started to review any i18n and L10n changes more closely. This is not to annoy you. This is to help you write code that can be translated better and without too many questions from translators. 2. Have a look at [1] and act on issues. 3. Have a look at [1] and poke someone else to act on issues. 4. We need maintainers for [[Support]] [3] to sort stuff into the correct places. 5. When committing code which has i18n changes, add Nikerabbit (me) or Siebrand to reviewers. 6. Ideas on how to improve this process are welcome.
We think that we are all responsible for providing them with the information they need. We feel it's our (translatewiki.net staff's) obligation to make sure translators can do their work without too many distractions and wasted efforts.
[1] https://translatewiki.net/wiki/Support/Open_requests [2] https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/38638 [3] https://translatewiki.net/wiki/Support [4] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Localisation