Hi Alex! I totally hear your frustration over the rule-change. This happened to address maintainer concerns and the organizers hope it will make the overall Hacktoberfest experience more valuable for everyone.
I did want to share some info that might bring you some relief!
"We will honor all valid pull requests prior to this change, and as of October 3, 2020 at 12:00:00 UTC – and October 3 in all time zones – pull requests will only count toward earning a T-shirt or planting a tree if they are submitted in a repository classified with the ‘hacktoberfest’ topic. The pull requests will also need to be merged, approved by a maintainer, or labeled as ‘hacktoberfest-accepted’ in order to qualify. The deadline for completions, merging, labeling, and approving is November 1."
Hi Alex! I totally hear your frustration over the rule-change. This happened to address maintainer concerns and the organizers hope it will make the overall Hacktoberfest experience more valuable for everyone.
I did want to share some info that might bring you some relief!
-DigitalOcean's recent statement
So, if you submitted a valid PR that was approved by a maintainer, merged, or labeled as Hacktoberfest-classified, it will count!
Hope you have a great weekend. And thanks for being part of the DEV community 🙂