Hacktoberfest is all about encouraging newbies to code and contribute to open source. It is not a competition to get your hands on swags; it is an opportunity to learn and build a network!!
With passing years, the fest has become more of a rat race - with people contributing unnecessarily to earn a T-shirt and some stickers. You can buy it man!! And trust me you can buy loads of those T-shirts without trying to code!
Within the first 2 days, I came across multiple irrelevant or rather meaningless PRs and would like to share with you all the same, so that you do not repeat those and become an object of laughter!
So, what is a bad PR?
The following are some examples of those irrelevant PRs which are ideally considered as the 'bad PRs'.
- Adding commas or other punctuations!
eg: Hey I am Kanika to Hey, I am Kanika.
Here, adding a comma just for the sake of making a PR is not a good practice.
- Adding irrelevant words without which the documentation works just fine.
eg: website project to an awesome website project
Adding an awesome here wouldn't really make a difference.
- Adding or removing whitespaces.
Man! This is not an English essay writing competition!! It is an open-source platform which requires a valid code from you to be counted as a contribution.
- Changing the order of the words or capitalizing them wouldn't make a difference either.
eg: renaming readme to README
- Changing the variable names in someone else's code.
eg:
int x=4, y=5,s=0;
s=x+y;
cout<<<<"sum: "<<x;
to
int a=4, b=5,c=0;
c=a+b;
cout<<<<"sum: "<<c;
Have a look and let me know whether changing the variable names affected the output of the code or helped the code in any manner? No, it didn't and thus it is useless to make such changes in a PR!!
This month long fest is not only about participating in Hacktoberfest, making 4 PRs and getting a T-shirt. It is a month long festival where you celebrate your learnings and skills.
This year Hacktoberfest provided another option too, which is to plant a tree. So, instead of posting selfies and motivational quotes on "save environment" portraying your care for the environment, do that and just show it.
Here is my advice on how to contribute this year!
- Find a project that suits your interest and technical skills.
- Go through the project's documentation and labeled issues.
- Find the solution to the mentioned problems.
- Go through the code and decide whether you can contribute something fruitful to the project; something that will actually enhance the project.
- Ask the project maintainers to assign you the suitable issues that you think you can work on.
- Engage with others contributing to the same project, make connections, build a network and learn from them.
- Make a valid PR, even if it takes a day or two.
Instead of enraging the project maintainer with irrelevant contributions, try to hone your skills via the projects that you choose.
Even if you're a beginner that is completely fine, but this month is to encourage people to learn, not for getting the swags only.
Don't get influenced by the swags; learn to collaborate with other developers and grow yourself!