In a discussion at work today, it came up that there are a number of one-time contributions to various modules (we were discussing gnome-software, but I think the trend is general), and we don’t actually have any data on why those contributors never make their second contribution.
This led to the thought: perhaps we could find that out? And then hopefully use that data to turn more one-time contributors into repeat contributors (across all GNOME modules).
Would anyone from the engagement team be interested in:
- Query GitLab to get a list of the contributors who’ve only submitted one MR to the GNOME project, across any number of projects
- Put a survey together asking something like: how was your experience of making your contribution? Do you feel anything could have been done to make that experience easier? What could have been done to encourage you to submit a second contribution?
- Send the survey to the one-time contributors
The message sent to them should probably be carefully worded to make it clear that it’s coming from the GNOME project, and has been sent to a fairly specifically queried group using GitLab contribution data, rather than being a drag-net query by an external party over GitLab, since people tend to ignore those. (Think “I’m a student at X university and I would like you and every other user of GitHub to fill out my survey about FOSS”.)
Does that sound like it would be useful, or a waste of people’s time? This is not something I’ve got loads of experience in, and it’s also not something I’m planning on picking up — I just wanted to put the idea out there in case it excites someone.