• Mike Parker (38/38) Mar 11 I'd like to remind everyone of some basic points regarding the

Mike Parker <aldacron gmail.com> writes:

I'd like to remind everyone of some basic points regarding the 
new DIP process. It's 100% driven by the author up until the 
Formal Assessment. The steps are outlined in the Authoring 
Process guide:

https://github.com/dlang/DIPs/blob/master/docs/process-authoring.md

The Ideas forum is there for the author to suss out whether it's 
worth investing time in writing a draft. That should always be 
the first step a potential DIP author takes before starting on a 
draft. Only when the author is satisfied that the time investment 
is worthwhile should the next step begin.

Step 2 of the Authoring Process guide explicitly asks the author 
to contact me before proceeding to Step 3 (forking the DIP 
repository). Most of the authors who have posted DIPs to the 
Development forum never notified me at any point. Some of them 
skipped Step 1 completely.

I've revised the text of Step 2 to make clear why I ask authors 
to contact me before beginning a draft. It will give me a chance 
to ensure that Walter and/or Atila have provided feedback on the 
author's post in the Ideas forum. This is why the Ideas forum is 
there. If your idea has been in the forum three weeks with no 
feedback from either of them, then let me know and I'll nudge 
them to it.

The biggest complaint about the old DIP process was that people 
had to invest a lot of time in a DIP with no early feedback on 
its chances, and no control on when it moved forward at any 
stage. The new process allow potential authors to get a better 
idea of the odds before starting on a draft and gives them full 
control of whether and when to move forward all the way through 
to submitting the PR, which is now the final step for Formal 
Assessment.

If you choose to skip the Ideas forum, or you proceed with a 
draft in the Development forum without notifying me before Walter 
or Atila have provided you with any feedback, you're in the same 
boat you would have been in with the old process.

If everyone follows the steps, it will help maintain a bit of 
order in the process and make it easier for me to keep on top of 
things. So please follow the steps in the Authoring Process guide 
when you're planning a new DIP.