During my chat with Jane Wells on episode 68 of WordPress Weekly, we spoke about a number of different topics, but one I wanted to put a little more focus on today was the developer chat. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been trying to encourage people to join the developer chats as a means of participating in the development of WordPress. I myself participate in the chats I can make it to. Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure all I’ve done is get in the way.
As I’ve learned, the developer chats are meant to talk about the core development of WordPress. These 60 minute meetings each week are the one time where all of the core developers of the software get together to discuss the development of WordPress. This is also where development tasks are assigned to anyone who volunteers. This meeting is not a place to voice feature requests or bug reports. At all other times, the channel is used to bring up bugs or specific issues related to the core of WordPress, not for troubles with the plugin or theme repositories or any other general aspect of WordPress.
I’m like that kid who wants to get his hands and ears into everything but unfortunately, that kid usually becomes a nuisance or someone that gets in the way. That’s not what I want to be in the WordPress community especially as it’s related to development of the software. So with that, I am pledging to take a step back and view from a distance. I’m not a developer so I shouldn’t be getting involved in development oriented tasks or discussions.
Well, Jane was right to point out the intended purpose of the developer chat but you performed a worthwhile service by checking it out and at least making people aware that it exists, that there is a decision-making process at the highest levels, involving many people, and that Matt doesn’t just magically pull each shiny new version of WordPress from his behind.
So, keep getting your hands and ears into everything, you are gaining an evermore detailed knowledge of the WordPress universe and that is healthy for the community as a whole.