Don't take it personal if your contribution is rejected

You had a good idea and submitted it, but then the project rejects it. Now what?

Joel Clermont
Joel Clermont
2023-11-24

Recently, I shared how I imported a PHP Code Sniffer ruleset into Easy Coding Standards.

While doing this, I noticed that ECS offered a dynamicSet() method, which allowed you to import rule sets from PHP CS Fixer. Even though I had my import working, I thought it could be useful to extend this feature to support imports from PHP Code Sniffer as well. Plus, it was a chance to be a good open source citizen and contribute something back.

My proposed idea was eventually closed, however. It was deemed as not contributing to the project's primary goal of making it easy to get started with coding standards. The suggestion was politely declined by the project author.

I was a little disappointed, but thankfully I could still use this technique in my own projects. I also had the foresight to propose it in the Issues section with some sample code before diving in and doing tons of refactoring in a pull request.

It's important to remember that open source maintainers have a vision for their project, and they need to keep it on track. Plus, that contribution I make in an afternoon is code they'll be supporting for years. So it's not personal.

Here to help,

Joel

P.S. Looking for a second opinion on your Laravel app? We can help.

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