community Archives - Duck Alignment Academy

2026-01-14

Measuring contributor affiliations is complicated

Determining a contributor’s affiliation is not as easy as it seems. It’s not always clear if a contribution is part of someone’s job.

Posts

2026-01-07

GitHub Discussions versus Discourse

The GitHub Discussions versus Discourse comparison isn’t about which is better — both are good. But which is better for your specific project?

Posts

2025-12-10

The do’s and don’ts of measuring contributions “outside of working hours”

Do: not. Don’t: correct. The clock time of contributions tells you very little, and almost certainly not what you’re trying to learn.

Posts

2025-11-05

Giving contribution gifts: the risks and rewards

Giving contribution gifts can be a great way to reward people for the work they do in your project, but it comes with challenges.

Posts

2025-10-15

Splitting conversations splits community

Community leaders are often too quick to segment conversations into different channels, which effectively hides the activity.

Posts

2025-10-08

Ruby Central’s lesson in how not to do it

Community-driven projects run on consensus. To make changes, you need buy-in from the core members, at a minimum.

Posts

2025-07-23

You can only expect the help you ask for

People won’t know you need help unless you ask for it. Be specific about what you need and be prepare to help the helpers.

Posts

2025-07-02

Using AI moderation tools

Use AI moderation tools to help human moderators, not to act on their own. Don’t take the humanity out of your community management.

Posts

2025-03-12

Helping your project survive the loss of core contributors

Only 27% of projects that lose their core developers survive, but you can take steps to give your project its best chance.

Posts

2025-03-05

Rules and policies are necessary to define good behavior

Think of it this way: having rules and policies for behavior in your community is like documenting the community’s API.

Posts

Tag: community

Measuring contributor affiliations is complicated

GitHub Discussions versus Discourse

The do’s and don’ts of measuring contributions “outside of working hours”

Giving contribution gifts: the risks and rewards

Splitting conversations splits community

Ruby Central’s lesson in how not to do it

You can only expect the help you ask for

Using AI moderation tools

Helping your project survive the loss of core contributors

Rules and policies are necessary to define good behavior

2026 trends