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first of all, don't give up. being ignored or overlooked is part of the FOSS experience. not every developer is available all the time, some only work during holidays or whenever the mood strikes them. some would prefer to ignore rather than reject someone, or (especially on popular projects) they may be so busy that they simply didn't see your submission. when you fix a problem consider first of all, to do it for yourself. for your experience, or to solve a problem that you actually have. fixing a problem and then finding out that it is already fixed, or that someone elses later fix was accepted ignoring yours, is also a common experience. there is nothing malicious about it. communication is just not perfect, and for some things, it may just be easier for the known and trusted developers to fix a problem themselves rather than to take the effort to review your contribution, even though taking care of your contribution would give them the opportunity to invite a new contributor. not every project has inviting new contributors on their radar. my suggestion would be to look at projects that have an explicit policy of being welcoming to new contributors. they will either say on their site or in the documentation, or they have issues that are marked "good for beginners" "or good for a first contribution" or something similar. work on such issues. join the community, their mailinglists, chat rooms, or whatever they use, and talk to other developers there. get to know the people, help other new contributors, make friends. later when one of your submissions is ignored or overlooked again, those new friends will be able to help you get attention to it. or they may know why it was ignored. |