Encourage participation, acknowledge contributions, and improve sustainability within Drupal (the software)

drupalbot
2026-02-07T00:09:54Z

>>> [!note] Migrated issue Reported by: [bserem](https://www.drupal.org/user/388753) >>>
Recently a module called "Contribute" made its appearance, and with it, a huge discussion has risen, mainly because it is now a dependency of the famous Webform module.

In the aforementioned discussion, it became clear (very clear some might say), that most developers do like the idea of contribute and it would be a good idea for inclusion in Drupal Core. What most people object to is to make "contribute" module a dependency of other modules, which kind of makes sense.

My suggestion and I hope that people will back me on that, is to include contribute in Core and even install it in the standard installation profile.

This way it is highly probably some people will join the community and get more active in it, like the author and maintainer of the module intend, while we will avoid issues where more and more project add a dependency that it not really a dependency.

Problem/Motivation

Everyone's first and most significant impression of Drupal begins when they first install Drupal using the standard or the demo installation profile. Within Drupal (the software) there is no mention of Open Source, core and project contributors, the Drupal Association, and how to get involved in the Drupal community.

To build a growing and sustainable ecosystem, we should encourage participation and acknowledge contributions within Drupal (the software).

We need to discuss and decide…

Should encouraging participation and acknowledging contributions be added to Drupal core?

What should the overall message and user engagement be with in Drupal core?

What is the best approach implement this type of messaging in Drupal core?

Proposed resolution

TBD

Remaining tasks

Get people's opinion in the below comments

Determine who are the key and final decisions makers for this type of improvement/feature

See what other Open Source projects are doing? WordPress, Joomla, etc…

Decide on an MVP (Minimum viable product) and long term solution.

Decide how or who is going to lead the messaging?

Determine the level of effort needed to complete these tasks.

Decide if initial development/prototyping can be done using the Contribute module.

User interface changes

There are few possible opportunities where this type of message could/should be integrated.

During the installation process.

Immediately after the site is installed and a user is redirect to the front page.

On the 'Status Report'

On the 'Extend' page'

Dedicated page (linked from admin toolbar)

Notes

The Contribute module could be used to quickly prototype the overall message and approach.

API changes

There might need to be some update to Drupal.org's APIs

Messaging could be handled via a dedicated core module.

Data model changes

User data from Drupal.org needs to be enhanced.

Composer.json files could be updated to include extra data about project's status and maintainers.

Related Issues/Discussions

#2936020: Add Contribute module as a dependency

#2282537: Create a mechanism for modules to announce funding campaigns through the Update module

#2138397: Highlight Flattr, Paypal or Whatever Opportunities on Issue Pages

#2138411: Highlight Gratipay, Flattr, Paypal or Whatever Opportunities on Documentation Pages

References

https://www.jrockowitz.com/blog/contribute

https://www.jrockowitz.com/blog/contribute-statement

https://www.drupal.org/governance/d8accelerate

https://www.acquia.com/blog/acquia-blog/accelerating-drupal-8-adoption/27/01/2016/3291486

http://d8rules.org/

> Related issue: [Issue #2940739](https://www.drupal.org/node/2940739) > Related issue: [Issue #2945263](https://www.drupal.org/node/2945263) > Related issue: [Issue #2936020](https://www.drupal.org/node/2936020)