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GitHub contribution graph can be harmful to contributors

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Re: GitHub contribution graph can be harmful to contributors

#41

Post by sotojuan »

the_mitsuhiko wrote: post #11
Khao wrote: post #2

Is this an April Fools joke? I've never seen anyone who gave a fuck about their contribution graph and record streak, except for devs who developped clever git repos that make your contribution graph show pixel art (which is pretty awesome). I want to say if you feel pressure when looking at your contribution graph, it's all in your head and you should take a break because you're clearly not thinking straight.

People care a ton about their streaks and I have noted that before. It encourages people to not have weekends.

What do you mean it encourages people to not have weekends? Spending 20 mins fixing a small bug or improving docs in your for-fun project isn't giving up your weekend.

Re: GitHub contribution graph can be harmful to contributors

#42

Post by p4wnc6 »

grantcox wrote: post #12
Khao wrote: post #2

Is this an April Fools joke? I've never seen anyone who gave a fuck about their contribution graph and record streak, except for devs who developped clever git repos that make your contribution graph show pixel art (which is pretty awesome). I want to say if you feel pressure when looking at your contribution graph, it's all in your head and you should take a break because you're clearly not thinking straight.

I agree that it's a largely irrelevant / frivolous feature, and if someone cares deeply about it, it's likely a sign of some deeper psychological issue. But deeper psychological issues are real, and gamification definitely pushes a certain agenda. When that agenda (in this case "streaks" and "commits per day") isn't really serving a community, it would be sensible for the community to tweak those rules. Putting some…

I've had interviewers ask me why I had certain gaps in my contribution graph before. Sometimes from large, successful tech companies that are widely sought after for jobs.

Re: GitHub contribution graph can be harmful to contributors

#43

Post by jerf »

whichdan wrote: post #36

I'm surprised at how dismissive all of the comments have been so far. There are a lot of cultural habits around programming that are exclusionary, and if we're trying to pull more people into the field, discouraging people who can't code every single day could have a negative impact. It's at least worth exploring.

"Exclusionary" connotes a lot of things nowadays, especially something like "something that 80% of the people within the culture can do and they lock out those that can't". But the reality is that the vast majority of people really can't commit usefully every day. If I see a perfectly green graph, I assume it's been gamed. Even if the commits are real, I'm confident many days will have useless commits in them. Given the political firepower currently carried by "exclusionary", I don't think it's worth flinging it at this problem. It's a stupid metric like your level on Google Play or the count of Platinum trophies you have on your Sony account, making only a small percentage of people do something they otherwise wouldn't, not something preventing anyone from getting into programming or something.

Re: GitHub contribution graph can be harmful to contributors

#44

Post by [deleted] »

whichdan wrote: post #36

I'm surprised at how dismissive all of the comments have been so far. There are a lot of cultural habits around programming that are exclusionary, and if we're trying to pull more people into the field, discouraging people who can't code every single day could have a negative impact. It's at least worth exploring.

[deleted]

Re: GitHub contribution graph can be harmful to contributors

#45

Post by ihsw »

The problem is people are using it as a signal for measuring someone's worth.

There are so many other signals -- learning new programming languages, fixing broken tests, creating awesome new features, cleaning up crufty API libraries, and so forth -- but GitHub isn't showing them on profile pages.

Clearly there is a desire for such signals as people are either 1) using it to elevate one's perceived stature 2) using it to measure other people's perceived stature.

Personally I think this is an opportunity for GitHub to obviate such a signal, one that accurately measures someone's quality of work.

Re: GitHub contribution graph can be harmful to contributors

#46

Post by mryan »

the_mitsuhiko wrote: post #11
Khao wrote: post #2

Is this an April Fools joke? I've never seen anyone who gave a fuck about their contribution graph and record streak, except for devs who developped clever git repos that make your contribution graph show pixel art (which is pretty awesome). I want to say if you feel pressure when looking at your contribution graph, it's all in your head and you should take a break because you're clearly not thinking straight.

People care a ton about their streaks and I have noted that before. It encourages people to not have weekends.

I feel that week-based streaks could be a good compromise here.

You still have the ability to quickly gauge how active someone is on GH, while allowing people who care about such things to keep a streak running without sacrificing weekend time.

Re: GitHub contribution graph can be harmful to contributors

#47

Post by emodendroket »

Khao wrote: post #2

Is this an April Fools joke? I've never seen anyone who gave a fuck about their contribution graph and record streak, except for devs who developped clever git repos that make your contribution graph show pixel art (which is pretty awesome). I want to say if you feel pressure when looking at your contribution graph, it's all in your head and you should take a break because you're clearly not thinking straight.

Why does this site, and Github, and StackOverflow, among others, all feature a points/reputation system? After all, they're all meaningless; you can't go cash them in somewhere. And yet it still affects user behavior.

Re: GitHub contribution graph can be harmful to contributors

#48

Post by whichdan »

jerf wrote: post #43
whichdan wrote: post #36

I'm surprised at how dismissive all of the comments have been so far. There are a lot of cultural habits around programming that are exclusionary, and if we're trying to pull more people into the field, discouraging people who can't code every single day could have a negative impact. It's at least worth exploring.

"Exclusionary" connotes a lot of things nowadays, especially something like "something that 80% of the people within the culture can do and they lock out those that can't". But the reality is that the vast majority of people really can't commit usefully every day. If I see a perfectly green graph, I assume it's been gamed. Even if the commits are real, I'm confident many days will have useless commits in them. Given…

Okay, that's a fair point. I do think you bring up something important: we're all aware that a perfectly green graph means that it's either been gamed, or that the person spends an inordinate amount of time coding, but someone new to the field would have no idea.

Re: GitHub contribution graph can be harmful to contributors

#49

Post by emodendroket »

p4wnc6 wrote: post #42
grantcox wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that it's a largely irrelevant / frivolous feature, and if someone cares deeply about it, it's likely a sign of some deeper psychological issue. But deeper psychological issues are real, and gamification definitely pushes a certain agenda. When that agenda (in this case "streaks" and "commits per day") isn't really serving a community, it would be sensible for the community to tweak those rules. Putting some…

I've had interviewers ask me why I had certain gaps in my contribution graph before. Sometimes from large, successful tech companies that are widely sought after for jobs.

That seems like a reason to pass on them, to be honest.

Re: GitHub contribution graph can be harmful to contributors

#50

Post by emodendroket »

sotojuan wrote: post #41
the_mitsuhiko wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People care a ton about their streaks and I have noted that before. It encourages people to not have weekends.

What do you mean it encourages people to not have weekends? Spending 20 mins fixing a small bug or improving docs in your for-fun project isn't giving up your weekend.

The "weekend" people mean here is a period of time when you do not do work at all
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