7 is more comfortable for me than 5.

Aaron

On Mon, Sep 21, 2026 at 1:19 PM Sameer Mesiah <[email protected]> wrote:

> Okay. Looking at the statistics again, I think 7 is not too bad. So I am
> not as against this policy as before. As a contributor, the more intense
> periods have a greater weight in your memory than the more quiet stretches.
>
> Could you confirm if this will affect draft PRs? And of course, a closed PR
> can be reopened once a new 'slot' is free?
>
> On Mon, 21 Sept 2026 at 21:13, Jarek Potiuk <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > My take: 7 is about right :)
> >
> > On Mon, Sep 21, 2026 at 10:10 PM Jarek Potiuk <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> > > Happy to provide more datapoints. It's sooooooo easy with AI nowadays -
> > > here are your weekly stats for last year.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> ┌────────────────────┬──────┬───────────────────────┬────────────────────┬──────┬──────────────────┐
> > > │        Week        │ Open │                       │        Week
> > │
> > > Open │                  │
> > >
> > >
> >
> ├────────────────────┼──────┼───────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────┼──────────────────┤
> > > │ 2025-09-29 → 11-24 │ 0    │ (no PRs yet)          │ 2026-03-23
> >  │
> > > 10   │ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ +4 −0 │
> > >
> > >
> >
> ├────────────────────┼──────┼───────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────┼──────────────────┤
> > > │ 2025-12-01         │ 1    │ ▇ +1                  │ 2026-03-30
> >  │
> > > 10   │ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ +2 −2 │
> > >
> > >
> >
> ├────────────────────┼──────┼───────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────┼──────────────────┤
> > > │ 2025-12-08         │ 1    │ ▇ +1 −1               │ 2026-04-06
> >  │
> > > 10   │ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ +2 −2 │
> > >
> > >
> >
> ├────────────────────┼──────┼───────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────┼──────────────────┤
> > > │ 2025-12-15         │ 0    │ −1                    │ 2026-04-13
> >  │
> > > 9    │ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ −1     │
> > >
> > >
> >
> ├────────────────────┼──────┼───────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────┼──────────────────┤
> > > │ 2025-12-22         │ 1    │ ▇ +2 −1               │ 2026-04-20
> >  │
> > > 8    │ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ −1      │
> > >
> > >
> >
> ├────────────────────┼──────┼───────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────┼──────────────────┤
> > > │ 2025-12-29         │ 2    │ ▇▇ +1                 │ 2026-04-27
> >  │
> > > 7    │ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ −1       │
> > >
> > >
> >
> ├────────────────────┼──────┼───────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────┼──────────────────┤
> > > │ 2026-01-05         │ 3    │ ▇▇▇ +1                │ 2026-05-04
> >  │
> > > 6    │ ▇▇▇▇▇▇ +2 −3     │
> > >
> > >
> >
> ├────────────────────┼──────┼───────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────┼──────────────────┤
> > > │ 2026-01-12         │ 2    │ ▇▇ −1                 │ 2026-05-11
> >  │
> > > 7    │ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ +4 −3    │
> > >
> > >
> >
> ├────────────────────┼──────┼───────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────┼──────────────────┤
> > > │ 2026-01-19         │ 4    │ ▇▇▇▇ +2               │ 2026-05-18
> >  │
> > > 8    │ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ +3 −2   │
> > >
> > >
> >
> ├────────────────────┼──────┼───────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────┼──────────────────┤
> > > │ 2026-01-26         │ 4    │ ▇▇▇▇ +3 −3            │ 2026-05-25
> >  │
> > > 7    │ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ +2 −3    │
> > >
> > >
> >
> ├────────────────────┼──────┼───────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────┼──────────────────┤
> > > │ 2026-02-02         │ 7    │ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ +4 −1         │ 2026-06-01
> >  │
> > > 6    │ ▇▇▇▇▇▇ +2 −3     │
> > >
> > >
> >
> ├────────────────────┼──────┼───────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────┼──────────────────┤
> > > │ 2026-02-09         │ 8    │ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ +3 −2        │ 2026-06-08
> >  │
> > > 4    │ ▇▇▇▇ +1 −3       │
> > >
> > >
> >
> ├────────────────────┼──────┼───────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────┼──────────────────┤
> > > │ 2026-02-16         │ 8    │ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ +5 −5        │ 2026-06-15
> >  │
> > > 7    │ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ +5 −2    │
> > >
> > >
> >
> ├────────────────────┼──────┼───────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────┼──────────────────┤
> > > │ 2026-02-23         │ 10   │ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ +2         │ 2026-06-22
> >  │
> > > 9    │ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ +3 −1  │
> > >
> > >
> >
> ├────────────────────┼──────┼───────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────┼──────────────────┤
> > > │ 2026-03-02         │ 15   │ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ +7 −2 │ 2026-06-29
> >  │
> > > 10   │ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ +4 −3 │
> > >
> > >
> >
> ├────────────────────┼──────┼───────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────┼──────────────────┤
> > > │ 2026-03-09         │ 13   │ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ +3 −5   │ 2026-07-06
> >  │
> > > 6    │ ▇▇▇▇▇▇ +1 −5     │
> > >
> > >
> >
> ├────────────────────┼──────┼───────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────┼──────────────────┤
> > > │ 2026-03-16         │ 6    │ ▇▇▇▇▇▇ +4 −11         │ 2026-07-13 →
> 07-20
> > │
> > > 6    │ ▇▇▇▇▇▇           │
> > >
> > >
> >
> ├────────────────────┼──────┼───────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────┼──────────────────┤
> > > │                    │      │                       │ 2026-07-27
> >  │
> > > 3    │ ▇▇▇ +1 −4        │
> > >
> > >
> >
> ├────────────────────┼──────┼───────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────┼──────────────────┤
> > > │                    │      │                       │ 2026-08-03 →
> 08-10
> > │
> > > 5    │ ▇▇▇▇▇            │
> > >
> > >
> >
> ├────────────────────┼──────┼───────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────┼──────────────────┤
> > > │                    │      │                       │ 2026-08-17
> >  │
> > > 4    │ ▇▇▇▇ −2          │
> > >
> > >
> >
> ├────────────────────┼──────┼───────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────┼──────────────────┤
> > > │                    │      │                       │ 2026-08-24
> >  │
> > > 6    │ ▇▇▇▇▇▇ +2        │
> > >
> > >
> >
> ├────────────────────┼──────┼───────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────┼──────────────────┤
> > > │                    │      │                       │ 2026-08-31
> >  │
> > > 7    │ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ +2 −1    │
> > >
> > >
> >
> ├────────────────────┼──────┼───────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────┼──────────────────┤
> > > │                    │      │                       │ 2026-09-07
> >  │
> > > 9    │ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ +3 −1  │
> > >
> > >
> >
> ├────────────────────┼──────┼───────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────┼──────────────────┤
> > > │                    │      │                       │ 2026-09-14
> >  │
> > > 8    │ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ −1      │
> > >
> > >
> >
> ├────────────────────┼──────┼───────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────┼──────────────────┤
> > > │                    │      │                       │ 2026-09-21
> >  │
> > > 6    │ ▇▇▇▇▇▇ −2        │
> > >
> > >
> >
> └────────────────────┴──────┴───────────────────────┴────────────────────┴──────┴──────────────────┘
> > >
> > > Summary: first PR 2025-11-27, so the whole history is 43 weeks. 90 PRs
> > > authored, 81 merged, 3 closed, 6 open now. Weekly average 6.4 open,
> peak
> > 15
> > > (week of 2026-03-02), and the queue drained hard the following
> fortnight
> > > (−11 in the week of 03-16, the largest single-week clearance).
> > >
> > > On Mon, Sep 21, 2026 at 9:42 PM Sameer Mesiah <[email protected]>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > >> Hi Jarek,
> > >>
> > >> Thank you for pulling up the statistics. It really helps us understand
> > the
> > >> situation better. But I think these point-in-time numbers can
> sometimes
> > >> mask the natural deviations in activity for most contributors. Since
> you
> > >> took me as an example of someone who would hardly be affected by this
> > new
> > >> policy, I think we need to look at the maximum number of PRs I had
> open
> > >> over my history of contributing. My memory is not 100% accurate of
> > course
> > >> but I recall having 15-20 open PRs at one point. And right around the
> > time
> > >> of the summit, I am fairly sure I had 10 open PRs (some in draft
> though
> > I
> > >> am not sure if this policy applies to draft PRs) which then went down
> > to 6
> > >> as the maintainers returned to start reviewing and merging my PRs
> > again. I
> > >> do not fault the maintainers of course as I understand the review
> queue
> > is
> > >> going to deprioritised during that period due to intense summit
> > >> preparations.
> > >>
> > >> I would say I’m opening fewer PRs nowadays (unfortunately other
> > >> commitments just get in the way even when you really want to
> contribute
> > as
> > >> a volunteer). So the 6 open PRs statistic might have caught me in a
> low
> > >> point.
> > >>
> > >> I do not wish to make this thread about myself but I suspect other
> > >> contributors’ activity might have similar patterns. Periods where they
> > >> have
> > >> lots of open PRs and then periods where they only have a handful. You
> > can
> > >> clearly see this in the statistics of people in bucket A who you seem
> to
> > >> categorize as ‘good’ contributors.
> > >>
> > >> If you are insistent on this policy, I think a 10 PR limit might be a
> > more
> > >> reasonable middle ground. It will prevent bots and bad faith
> > contributors
> > >> from spamming 50 PRs but it won’t be excessively restrictive.
> > >>
> > >> On Mon, 21 Sep 2026 at 20:23, Jarek Potiuk <[email protected]> wrote:
> > >>
> > >> > Correction: Thursday the 24th at 7:00pm CEST. - which is 72 hrs from
> > the
> > >> > beginning of that thread,
> > >> >
> > >> > And one more comment: I thought for a long time about the metrics
> > >> "Threads
> > >> > vs. PRs". For me this is **embodiment** of community-aware, empathic
> > >> > contributor - on the way to become a commmiter. And I **knew** -
> > >> because I
> > >> > checked it before - that practically **all** committers have a very
> > high
> > >> > number here.
> > >> >
> > >> > I deliberately never mentioned it in our discussions. As we all
> know,
> > >> > anything you set as a goal stops being a useful metric. There are
> > always
> > >> > ways to game the system.
> > >> >
> > >> > That's why I waited for quite a while to accumulate the data and
> > showed
> > >> > completely different numbers - and never discussed the thread vs.
> PRs
> > >> idea
> > >> > - to ensure this particular metric remained totally unbiased.
> > >> > And - just for the record - this is the last time this metric will
> be
> > >> > unbiased—now that we will publicly say we "care" about it.
> > >> >
> > >> > And here is Claude's analysis on those top-20. And my thinking is
> that
> > >> we
> > >> > should care about the needs of groups in this way: A > B > C.
> > >> >
> > >> > ------------
> > >> >
> > >> > Three buckets, all 24 (top-19 + the five-way tie at 6 open PRs)
> > >> >
> > >> > Bucket rule, stated up front so the borderline calls are visible:
> > >> > engagement = others' threads per open PR (≥1.5 counts as engaged),
> > >> quality
> > >> > = all-time merge rate (≥40% healthy). I picked these thresholds to
> > match
> > >> > where the data actually clusters - there's a real gap between 1.7
> and
> > >> 0.8
> > >> > on engagement, and between 40% and 31% on the merge rate.
> > >> >
> > >> > ---
> > >> >
> > >> > A. Net reviewers — they give back more than they ask for (9 people,
> > 103
> > >> > open PRs)
> > >> >
> > >> > ┌─────────────────┬──────┬─────────────────┬─────────┬─────────┐
> > >> > │     Author      │ Open │ Threads/open PR │ Reviews │ Merge % │
> > >> > ├─────────────────┼──────┼─────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┤
> > >> > │ SameerMesiah97  │ 6    │ 60.3            │ 350     │ 90%     │
> > >> > ├─────────────────┼──────┼─────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┤
> > >> > │ shivaam         │ 6    │ 13.0            │ 55      │ 67%     │
> > >> > ├─────────────────┼──────┼─────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┤
> > >> > │ Vamsi-klu       │ 10   │ 10.8            │ 58      │ 38%     │
> > >> > ├─────────────────┼──────┼─────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┤
> > >> > │ Andrushika      │ 9    │ 4.6             │ 33      │ 79%     │
> > >> > ├─────────────────┼──────┼─────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┤
> > >> > │ yuseok89        │ 12   │ 3.8             │ 49      │ 77%     │
> > >> > ├─────────────────┼──────┼─────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┤
> > >> > │ steveahnahn     │ 14   │ 3.2             │ 40      │ 59%     │
> > >> > ├─────────────────┼──────┼─────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┤
> > >> > │ ColtenOuO       │ 23   │ 2.6             │ 70      │ 59%     │
> > >> > ├─────────────────┼──────┼─────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┤
> > >> > │ stephen-bracken │ 6    │ 2.3             │ 16      │ 56%     │
> > >> > ├─────────────────┼──────┼─────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┤
> > >> > │ fat-catTW       │ 17   │ 1.7             │ 33      │ 50%     │
> > >> > └─────────────────┴──────┴─────────────────┴─────────┴─────────┘
> > >> >
> > >> > Vamsi-klu is the odd one: 108 threads and 58 reviews (bucket-A
> > >> engagement)
> > >> > on a 38% merge rate. Placed here because the review effort is
> > >> unambiguous.
> > >> > fat-catTW and stephen-bracken are the borderline entries - drop the
> > >> > threshold to 2.0 and fat-catTW moves out.
> > >> >
> > >> > B. Shippers, not reviewers - volume with normal merge rates (6
> people,
> > >> 115
> > >> > open PRs)
> > >> >
> > >> > ┌───────────────┬──────┬─────────────────┬─────────┬─────────┐
> > >> > │    Author     │ Open │ Threads/open PR │ Reviews │ Merge % │
> > >> > ├───────────────┼──────┼─────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┤
> > >> > │ Eason09053360 │ 35   │ 0.3             │ 13      │ 52%     │
> > >> > ├───────────────┼──────┼─────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┤
> > >> > │ 1fanwang      │ 34   │ 0.8             │ 36      │ 40%     │
> > >> > ├───────────────┼──────┼─────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┤
> > >> > │ rjgoyln       │ 27   │ 0.7             │ 34      │ 53%     │
> > >> > ├───────────────┼──────┼─────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┤
> > >> > │ Samin061      │ 7    │ 0.4             │ 4       │ 58%     │
> > >> > ├───────────────┼──────┼─────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┤
> > >> > │ jeff3071      │ 6    │ 0.3             │ 7       │ 46%     │
> > >> > ├───────────────┼──────┼─────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┤
> > >> > │ YAshhh29      │ 6    │ 0.2             │ 1       │ 45%     │
> > >> > └───────────────┴──────┴─────────────────┴─────────┴─────────┘
> > >> >
> > >> > The work lands—merge rates here are ordinary, some above
> > >> committer-adjacent
> > >> > levels—but the top three are carrying 96 open PRs between them while
> > >> having
> > >> > commented on 56 of other people's threads in total. 1fanwang sits
> > >> exactly
> > >> > on the 40% line.
> > >> >
> > >> > C. Low engagement and low merge rate (9 people, 82 open PRs)
> > >> >
> > >> > ┌───────────────────┬──────┬─────────────────┬─────────┬─────────┐
> > >> > │      Author       │ Open │ Threads/open PR │ Reviews │ Merge % │
> > >> > ├───────────────────┼──────┼─────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┤
> > >> > │ bujjibabukatta    │ 16   │ 0.2             │ 5       │ 11%     │
> > >> > ├───────────────────┼──────┼─────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┤
> > >> > │ anmolxlight       │ 12   │ 0.4             │ 12      │ 31%     │
> > >> > ├───────────────────┼──────┼─────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┤
> > >> > │ dheerenmohta      │ 10   │ 0.2             │ 0       │ 28%     │
> > >> > ├───────────────────┼──────┼─────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┤
> > >> > │ namanjain24-sudo  │ 8    │ 1.1             │ 1       │ 11%     │
> > >> > ├───────────────────┼──────┼─────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┤
> > >> > │ Kunal8954         │ 8    │ 0.8             │ 6       │ 20%     │
> > >> > ├───────────────────┼──────┼─────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┤
> > >> > │ bramhanandlingala │ 8    │ 0.0             │ 1       │ 22%     │
> > >> > ├───────────────────┼──────┼─────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┤
> > >> > │ zozo123           │ 7    │ 0.1             │ 6       │ 17%     │
> > >> > ├───────────────────┼──────┼─────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┤
> > >> > │ GayathriSrividya  │ 7    │ 0.0             │ 9       │ 22%     │
> > >> > ├───────────────────┼──────┼─────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┤
> > >> > │ nagasrisai        │ 6    │ 0.7             │ 6       │ 29%     │
> > >> > └───────────────────┴──────┴─────────────────┴─────────┴─────────┘
> > >> >
> > >> > bramhanandlingala and GayathriSrividya have commented on zero
> threads
> > >> they
> > >> > didn't author. This bucket is 82 open PRs with an aggregate merge
> rate
> > >> > around 21% - roughly four reviews spent per PR that eventually
> lands.
> > >> >
> > >> >
> > >> >
> > >> > J.
> > >> >
> > >> >
> > >> > On Mon, Sep 21, 2026 at 9:09 PM Henry Chen <[email protected]>
> > >> wrote:
> > >> >
> > >> > > Thanks Jarek and Vincent for the detailed data and perspective
> that
> > >> > > context is really helpful. Seeing the actual numbers (especially
> > that
> > >> > even
> > >> > > the top contributors rarely hit 5 open PRs), a cap of 5 makes
> sense
> > >> to me
> > >> > > as a starting point. Happy to go with it and adjust later if we
> find
> > >> it's
> > >> > > too tight in practice.
> > >> > >
> > >> > > Thanks
> > >> > > Henry
> > >> > >
> > >> > >
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
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> > >> > >
> > >> > >
> > >> >
> > >>
> > >
> >
>

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