DROP | Drupal Rockin' Open Participation
Helping people contribute to Drupal through the usage of small, bite-sized tasks that help the Drupal community.

About DROP

DROP, which stands for Drupal Really Open Participation, is a project designed for organizing short-term tasks for members of the community who are still getting familiar with the system. There are also a few harder tasks available for more seasoned developers looking for something to do when they're bored.

What makes a DROP Task?

A DROP task is a short-term task that can theoretically be done in less than a week. It's fine if it's estimated at a bit more than a week. Participants doing DROP tasks may take as long as they'd like; however, after a week is up, another participant can jump in and start working on it if they want to.

Sample tasks:

  • Code: : Task gives clear example of expected input and expected output, so the student has a "spec" to work from. It's also nice and compartmentalized so it won't "creep" into something large and tangly.
  • Documentation: : Task is both against a module used on thousands of Drupal sites, and also provides an outline of what the expected documentation should contain, so that there's no ambiguity about whether not the entire thing's been covered.
  • Usability: : Contains both a list of things to check for as part of the user experience research, as well as a clear target to shoot for in terms of expected results.
  • Videos: : Covers all of the material the video should show, sets up guidelines on the length and format of the video, etc. Also is something that will be helpful to a large segment of the Drupal community (developers on Windows).

Adding a task to DROP

If you have a task that you think is appropriate for DROP, feel free to name it "DROP Task: [rest of issue title here...]" on the appropriate drupal.org issue queue. If it doesn't really have an issue queue it belongs to, you can place it in the DROP issue queue under the component "Oddball DROP Task". If you are unsure about whether your idea is an appropriate DROP task or you have not made a post for the task on this site (drop.cwgordon.com), you may place a post to the same issue queue under the component "Task idea".

Claiming Tasks

To claim a task, simply comment on the task at drop.cwgordon.com saying you're working on it, and mark it as "claimed". You may not claim a task that someone is already working on unless a week has passed since they have last received a review of their work. You may not have more than three tasks not pending review. You may have as many tasks pending review as you like.

Who can participate?

Anyone can participate! Feel free to claim any tasks here that catch your interest. Just one request: please don't do any work on these tasks outside of the DROP program without first withdrawing the task, as this may lead to duplicate work being done, which is a complete waste of time. That said, there are no restrictions on who can participate: anyone, from anywhere, in any position, of any age, is invited to claim, mentor, or propose a task.

Purpose of this site

This site is solely for tracking purposes. All work should actually be posted at the appropriate drupal.org issue. However, all mentors and participants should create accounts here; if they don't, one will be created for them, and they will be notified of it via email. Participants receive points for completing tasks; this is a way of tracking the quantity and quality of work participants are doing. More points will be awarded for high-quality work, and more points will be awarded for harder/longer tasks. The average task is worth about 15 points. Each month, "winners"— although everyone who participates is really a winner, no matter what— will be fully recognized.

Origin of DROP

The idea of short, bite-sized tasks first originated during Drupal's participation in . Suddenly, BAM!, we had a LOT of awesome new contributors to Drupal. Then, GHOP ended. What were they to do? Simply go back to not contributing to Drupal? Of course not! Instead, they started DROP. See for the original ideas.

DROP: The Group

I just wanted to let you all know that there is now a on groups.drupal.org. Go join it!

By the way, welcome!

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