Have you been thinking about that question? I hope so. Everyone should, as long as we have a 5ftF program.
Some low-hanging fruit — recognition of non-code contributors — has already been picked, according to Angela Jin’s latest update. I like that WordPress.org profiles are now showing these new contributor activity types:
- Translating and reviewing strings on translate.wordpress.org
- Publishing lesson plans, workshops, and courses on Learn WordPress
- Publishing handbook pages
- Mentoring a WordCamp
- Manual props received in the #props channel in Making WordPress
If giving back 5% is “aspirational,” it will help contributors to aspire to giving more if more is counted.
I assumed some of these things were counted previously. I’m sure there’s more that could be added, especially with mentoring as a recognized contribution. That’s great. Really great! And it’s not small. As Laura Byrne noted in the comments, mentoring a WordCamp is a lot of work.
Other types of mentoring could be considered as well, as Nyasha Green emphasized in a recent conversation we recorded for Post Status Draft.