Making Your Project Feel Welcoming
In the United States, often, when a family moves into a new neighborhood, there is what’s called a “welcome wagon” to help welcome people to the area. It’s not a literal wagon (at least not here in Doylestown, Ohio). Instead, it’s a group in a community that gets together and provides welcome gifts to someone moving into the area to help them get to know their new neighbors, and vice versa.
The idea of the “welcome wagon” is to help a new neighbor get past the awkwardness of getting to know a new group of people. As adults, it can be challenging to meet and make new friends, so local customs such as the “welcome wagon” help break the ice, so to speak, with the hope of integrating newcomers to the neighborhood into its activities and social circles.
Too often, open source projects look at themselves and say, “why isn’t anyone contributing to my project?” There...
