A new contributor submits their first PR. It has minor style issues but the logic is correct. Which maintainer response best builds community?
First-contribution responses set the community tone. The effective response: welcomes explicitly, validates the substantive work (logic), gives specific actionable feedback (inline comments), commits to merging after fixes, and opens the door to questions. Closing for style issues without guidance drives away contributors permanently. Merging silently misses a teaching opportunity.
2 / 5
Which label strategy best helps new contributors find accessible issues?
"good first issue" is the industry-standard label that surfaces in GitHub's contributor discovery pages. Effective good-first-issue descriptions include: what the problem is, which file/function to look at, estimated effort, and what knowledge is needed. "help wanted" alone is too broad. No labels means contributors have to triage the entire backlog themselves.
3 / 5
Your project's CONTRIBUTING.md should include which sections?
CONTRIBUTING.md is the onboarding document for new contributors. Effective guides cover: environment setup (so contributors can run the project), issue discovery (so they find appropriate work), PR conventions (so they know what a good contribution looks like), review expectations (so they know what happens next), and the code of conduct (so they know community norms). Missing any of these creates friction that reduces contribution rates.
4 / 5
A contributor asks: "Is this project still active?" — there have been no commits in 3 months. Which response best serves the community?
Transparency about project status is a community health practice. "Maintenance mode" is a legitimate and respected status. Honest status communication lets contributors make informed decisions about investing their time. Ignoring the question damages trust. Saying "yes, active" when development is paused sets false expectations. Archiving without notice leaves dependent users without warning.
5 / 5
Which sentence best exemplifies a "welcoming newcomer" message in a community Discord or Slack?
Welcoming newcomer responses: answer the question directly, validate that it is a reasonable question, point to the relevant documentation, and — where possible — invite the newcomer to contribute. The "read the docs first" and "search before asking" responses, while sometimes justified, communicate unwelcome signals when used as the primary response to a genuine question. Redirecting channels without answering is a friction-maximising response.