Fletcher
25-Minute Talk
Preliminary analysis of 56 commitfests reveals that 44% of contributors never return after their first patch, 35% of work is never committed, and 47 patches have been stuck for 2+ years — one for 8 years.
To ensure PostgreSQL not only survives but flourishes, we need to examine our social infrastructure alongside our technical one. Our rigorous process produced a world-class database, but what do these metrics tell us about contributor experience? In this talk, we present the data and explore possible factors:
- Mailing-list workflow vs. modern collaboration expectations
- The steep path from "first patch" to regular contributor
- Time expectations for volunteers vs. paid developers
- Long-term patch ownership and maintenance burden
- Review bandwidth and the "Ready for Committer" bottleneck
We will also look at how other communities have navigated similar challenges: Perl's decline as a cautionary tale, Linux professionalizing its notoriously hostile culture, and Rust and Django as models for onboarding empathy.
The goal is to open a discussion about project sustainability: what can be changed to lower barriers and attract new contributors without compromising our standards for technical excellence?
