Okay. So just to be clear, if someone has 10 PRs currently open, once this new policy is implemented with a limit of 7 PRs, 3 of their PRs will be closed? These are like regular closed PRs which can be reopened once they have free slots so they wont lose their work?
On Mon, 21 Sept 2026 at 21:23, Jarek Potiuk <[email protected]> wrote: > And yes to answer your question - the policy (as of last week) also applies > to Drafts. > > Initially, when GitHub introduced it, the policy wasn't like that, but > people used it to game the system, so they changed it last week > after listening to feedback. > > For many months I have followed discussions about the changes GitHub > introduced in the "GitHub maintainers network" group (which is a > semi-private group of maintainers that GitHub works with and tells them > ideas they are working on), as well as feedback from many maintainers. > > To be honest, I haven't been pushing the "pull request" limits too much - > before they changed the "Draft" policy on it, because I was afraid that it > can be gamed - so I intensified my efforts (and added the workflow to test > to respond to INFRA needs - right after GitHub announced it. > > > > > On Mon, Sep 21, 2026 at 10:19 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 > > > >> > > > > > >> > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > >> > > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] > > > >> > > For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] > > > >> > > > > > >> > > > > > >> > > > > >> > > > > > > > > > >
