This is a submission for the 2024 Hacktoberfest Writing challenge: Maintainer Experience
This year, I participated in Hacktoberfest for the first time, both as a contributor and a maintainer. My project, CampX, is an open-source platform where people can discover and share campgrounds from across the globe. Built using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Node.js, Express.js, and MongoDB, I made sure everything was ready for contributors. From documentation to issue and pull request templates, I had it all in place, with the hacktoberfest topic added to the repository and labels applied to open issues. I even shared the project in the Hacktoberfest Discord server, and soon enough, people started showing interest, asking whether they could contribute and clarifying doubts. It was an exciting start!
I had been eagerly waiting for September 23rd, the day registration opened for Hacktoberfest. I even set reminders on my phone but honestly, I was so full of enthusiasm that I couldn’t stop thinking about the event, constantly preparing my project for the contributions I hoped to receive.
When the day finally arrived, I woke up early and visited the Hacktoberfest website...only to find that registration opened at 5:30 PM! I felt like a kid waiting for his favorite cartoon, checking the countdown timer over and over again. When the clock hit the time, I registered as soon as possible, claimed my Holopin badges, and then sat by my GitHub repository, eagerly waiting for contributors. No one showed up that day, but I wasn’t disheartened. I knew people would come sooner or later.
The very next morning, the magic happened—my project received 4 forks and 5 stars. I felt like the happiest person on Earth! People started creating issues, showing so much interest in CampX. It kept me busy all day and night, and I was loving every moment of it.
The Highs 🌟
One of my highest moments was watching CampX grow as contributors posted updates and images of their work. People are still creating up to 5 issues and 2-3 PRs a day, keeping me constantly engaged and learning alongside them. They even suggest new ideas to improve the project, which is fantastic! I'm especially glad that contributors have been respectful—there have been no spammy issues or PRs, even towards the documentation. While there hasn't been much contribution to documentation, the code itself has been moving in the right direction.
The Lows 💡
Of course, not everything was smooth sailing. One of the frustrations I encountered was when people didn’t read the documentation. Many contributors asked the same questions over and over. Others, after being assigned an issue, would go silent—no updates, no replies to comments. I’d often have to close issues due to inactivity, and only then would they respond. Some didn’t check if a similar issue already existed, creating duplicate or improper issues, which made it hard to understand the actual problem. Others would abandon issues halfway, without explaining what went wrong.
The Balance ⚖️
Despite the lows, I see them as part of the learning process. After all, if there are no highs and lows in your ECG, you're considered deceased! Hacktoberfest has been a fantastic movement for promoting open-source and encouraging people to contribute. However, it’s important that contributors learn and follow good practices in open-source contributions.
In Conclusion
Hacktoberfest has been an incredible experience so far. Balancing the highs and lows has taught me so much, and I can't wait to see what the rest of the event brings.
Project: https://github.com/VigneshDevHub/CampX
Live Demo: https://campx-1.onrender.com/
Feel free to connect with me and check out my other work:
LinkedIn: Vignesh J
GitHub (Personal): Vignesh025
GitHub Organization (VigneshDevHub): VigneshDevHub
Join our Open-Source Community on Discord: VigneshDevHub
Looking forward to your support!
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