Thanks for the varied feedback. I've updated to PR to just simplify the template rather than remove it, keeping the pointers to CHANGES.md, filing an ICLA, GitHub issue references, and CONTRIBUTING.md
Kenn On Tue, Sep 29, 2026 at 3:14 PM Valentyn Tymofieiev via dev < [email protected]> wrote: > I noticed new contributors often mention their changes in CHANGES.md, a > hint they likely picked up from the template. Contributor tips seem useful > too, so I'd rather keep the template. We can clarify or shorten to only > keep what's useful. > > On my PRs I usually delete the template and write my own description. > > > I just reviewed yet another pull request that has the description > "PLEASE add a meaningful description here" from the template, just left > there. > > PRs should have a meaningful description unless the title explains > everything. I would encourage asking the author to add one or edit the > description before merge. > > We could also change the "PLEASE line" into smth like: > > <Replace this template with PR description unless self-explanatory from > title> to make it less unpleasant when people ignore it. > > On Tue, Sep 29, 2026 at 11:43 AM Jack McCluskey via dev < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> A lot of the boilerplate is largely for new contributors. Leaving or >> removing the boilerplate isn't going to make a difference to the regular >> contributors but could add some friction to new ones. That being said, >> it's pretty annoying as a code reviewer to get a pull request with a >> title and no other context. I'm not asking for the overwritten, fully >> formatted LLM PR summaries, but a quick explanation of what intent of the >> PR is would be helpful. It would be great if Beam contributors as a whole >> could be more consistent in that effort... I worry that ditching the >> template will further encourage the pattern of PRs only coming with titles. >> >> So my opinion is "leave it and try to be more active as a community in >> writing PR descriptions" without enforcing it via infrastructure. >> >> On Tue, Sep 29, 2026 at 2:25 PM Danny McCormick via dev < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> >>> I find the template useless for my own work, and I don't think it helps >>> me review changes from committers. But I do wonder if it is helpful for new >>> contributors (IMO this is who the feature is for). >>> >>> My (unsubstantiated) opinion is that: >>> >>> >>> 1. It is useless for most people, but also harmless >>> 2. It probably sometimes helps new contributors >>> >>> >>> Given that, I'd vote to leave it, but I don't care very much. >>> >>> Thanks, >>> Danny >>> >>> On Tue, Sep 29, 2026 at 2:06 PM Kenneth Knowles <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> Hi all, >>>> >>>> For discussion: https://github.com/apache/beam/pull/40339 >>>> >>>> I just reviewed yet another pull request that has the description >>>> "PLEASE add a meaningful description here" from the template, just >>>> left there. >>>> >>>> >>>> - Since 2026-01-01 it looks like 370+ PRs have left the template >>>> without modifying it [unmodified]. >>>> - There are a total of about 1800 non-dependabot PRs in the same >>>> time. [total] >>>> - In fact, of the 1430 others, quite a few are just blank or just >>>> say "Fixes #<issue>" so I would round up to 25% "blank" descriptions. >>>> >>>> So my thoughts on this: >>>> >>>> - A rate of 75% of people actually describing their change is >>>> probably satisfied by the null hypothesis: this many people would do it >>>> without any template begging them to do it) >>>> - A fully blank PR field might even be *more* likely to be edited. >>>> - The other stuff in the template is really mostly noise, or should >>>> be automation. (like choosing a reviewer or the CI status badges) >>>> - A lot of PRs now have their description written by an LLM, or >>>> taken directly from the commit text (also written by LLM) so we don't >>>> need >>>> the template. >>>> - We could have an LLM check if they actually added a description >>>> and fail the check, (with a shortcut for totally unmodified description, >>>> or tiny edit distance, that uses zero tokens) >>>> >>>> WDYT? >>>> >>>> I'm just in a "cleaning up extra / old stuff" mood lately. >>>> >>>> Kenn >>>> >>>> [unmodified] >>>> https://github.com/apache/beam/pulls?q=is%3Apr+state%3Aclosed++created%3A%3E%3D2026-01-01+%22add+a+meaningful+description%22 >>>> >>>> [total] >>>> https://github.com/apache/beam/pulls?q=is%3Apr+state%3Aclosed++created%3A%3E%3D2026-01-01+-author%3Aapp%2Fdependabot >>>> >>>
