[Must Read for Newcomers] TiDB Community Participation and Contribution Guide

Translated
1

Note:
This topic has been translated from a Chinese forum by GPT and might contain errors.

Original topic: 【新人必看】TiDB 社区参与贡献指南

| username: Billmay表妹

Understanding the Community

The TiDB community is a platform for sharing and learning, established by developers, users, and partners within the TiDB ecosystem.

Chinese Community

The TiDB online community gathers 21,420 experienced TiDB users, where all members can freely express themselves and help each other solve problems. The online forum asktug.com has accumulated 16,022 question posts, with 95% of the issues resolved, and every post receives a response. TiDB community users are also very willing to share their practical experiences with TiDB, with over 700 high-quality technical articles and exciting presentations in the community column.

Communication

  • Q&A Forum: https://asktug.com/
  • WeChat Group: Community mutual aid group, you can add WeChat ID: billmay to join the group

How to Seek Technical Help?

Asktug is the community’s Q&A website where users can ask and answer questions, share articles, and jointly build the TiDB project. Please consciously follow the “Question Search Guide & Asking Guidelines” when speaking in the forum.

  1. Search First When Encountering a Problem

The TiDB community product team has specially customized a search platform for community members.

image

The search scope covers official documents, blogs, asktug questions, columns, etc. 80% of technical problems can be answered here.

  1. Ask Questions If You Can’t Find Answers, Exchange Technical Issues

If your question falls into that 20%, feel free to ask it now!

  • Post for consultation

AskTUG stands for Ask TiDB User Group, where over 20 moderators and 20,000+ users might help you solve problems. But remember, helping you in the community is their choice, not anyone’s obligation.

  1. How to Get Help Quickly?

  • Learn the Art of Asking Questions, check the Question Posting Guide, choose the correct category, and describe the problem according to the topic template. This is the first step to gaining goodwill. Whether you can clearly state the problem in one go will determine how many people are willing to help you troubleshoot it.

  • Add Tags to the Title, if you are in a hurry to solve the problem, you can add tags like [Help], [Urgent], [Production Environment Issue], [Need Help] to your question. But, do not abuse these tips. Some non-urgent issues do not need such tags. Once this feature is abused, it loses its original purpose of seeking help.

  • Follow Up More, whether a question is seen is determined by the last reply time, which affects the post’s sorting. If you are eager to solve the problem, you can add more background information, problem reproduction process, errors, etc., in the comments to help solve the post.

  • Join the Community Mutual Aid Group, where the success rate of getting replies is 80%. You can add WeChat ID: billmay to join the group, and please note your community nickname and company when adding friends.

How to Contribute to the Community?

  1. Answer Questions

In the community, if you want to build your “personal brand,” replying to others’ questions is a good way to build goodwill. When others post questions, your replies and assistance will bring them comfort and goodwill. Helping others is not only a virtue, but you can also learn about bug handling methods, problem localization, and different scenario operation and maintenance solutions in advance, gaining more skills.

Participation Entry: Unresolved Questions

Participation Rewards:

  • Reward for replying to technical questions: 8 points & experience per reply
  • Reward for solving problems: 15 points & experience per solution

If you solve 30 problems, you can apply to become a moderator candidate.

Participation Requirements:

  • When replying to questions, please provide valuable solutions, problem-solving ideas, and reference suggestions as much as possible.
  • Do not post meaningless replies to gain points.

Cherish every opportunity to reply to questions, as each reply adds to your personal image. Maliciously posting meaningless replies will not only ruin your image but also risk public criticism.

  1. Write Technical Articles

TiDB Community column is a collection of community technical articles, a blog platform for TiDB users/enthusiasts to [exchange ideas] and [analyze problems]. Thanks to everyone’s co-creation, the community column has received over 700 article submissions.

How to Write a High-Quality Technical Article?

  • Introduction and Practice of Open Source Technical Writing Meetup Review
Topic 1: Exploring Technical Writing in Open Source Communities PPT Download: Technical Writing in Open Source Communities.pdf (9.5 MB)
Topic 2: How to Write a Good Technical Article? PPT Download: How to Write a Good Technical Article.pdf (1.0 MB)

Video Review: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1W94y1m7vn/

  1. Speaking

PPT Template:

TiDB Community PPT Presentation Material.pptx (7.9 MB)

External Speaker Benefits & Rights:

  • Each Talk rewards 100-1000 experience points & points
  • Each Talk counts as 1 MVA & MOA contribution (3 Talks can earn the MVA honorary title)
  • Can join the “TiDB Community Evangelist” WeChat group

Internal Speaker Benefits & Rights:

  • Each Talk rewards 50-500 experience points & points
  • Can join the “TiDB Community Evangelist” WeChat group

Notes:

① Register before the speech at: https://forms.pingcap.com/f/jiangshi
② Add WeChat ID: billmay to join the TiDB Community Evangelist group
③ After the speech, add points and register MVA & MOA contributions

How to Become a Moderator?

What is a Moderator?

AskTUG forum moderators are composed of users, developers, Contributors, and partners in the TiDB community, with the authority to participate in the management and operation of the AskTUG forum.

We hope to find someone like you:

  • Loves the TiDB community, enjoys sharing, and desires growth,
  • Can occasionally spare a small amount of time over a stable and long period,
  • To discuss issues with community members or help them solve problems.

If you want to become a moderator, you can start by accumulating experience by replying to others’ questions. If you solve more than 30 problems, you can contact WeChat ID: billmay to apply to become a moderator candidate.

Moderator Rights & Benefits

  • Monthly closed-door meetings with product and research experts (moderator exchange meetings);
  • New course beta testing qualifications;
  • Priority access to new versions, tools, and features;
  • Priority participation in regional organizer activities;
  • Monthly reward of 500 points and 200 experience points;
  • Free PCTA certification voucher during the term, valid for 6 months;
  • Free PCTP certification voucher during the term, valid for 12 months;
  • Free participation in the DevCon annual conference during the term;
  • Annual gift package (available after 6 months of service);
  • Moderator badge (awarded after 3 months of service);
  • Moderator honorary certificate (awarded after 6 months of service);
  • Moderator T-shirt set (one black and one white) (awarded after 6 months of service);
  • Exclusive community badge & physical badge for moderators;
  • Annual outstanding moderator honorary certificate (awarded after 12 months of service);
  • Outstanding honorary moderator trophy (awarded after 24 months of service).

More importantly, you can contribute to the development of the TiDB community.

Reference:
TiDB Community Moderators, a Group of Ordinary Yet Great TiDBers
Moderator and Candidate Honor Roll

How to Become an MVA/MOA?

MVA

Within one year (calendar year), if you make 5 or more multi-dimensional contributions to the TiDB community or 3 or more high-quality contributions (Ti Can Speak + Ti Can Write), you can be elected as the TiDB Community Annual MVA after review by the Evangelist Committee.

MOA

Within one year (calendar year), if you make 10 or more multi-dimensional contributions to the TiDB community, you can be elected as the TiDB Community Annual MOA after review by the Evangelist Committee.

Multi-Dimensional Contributions Include:

Ti Can Speak:

  • Serving as a speaker at TiDB community events online or offline
  • Participating in other community events online or offline and speaking about TiDB products or the TiDB community
  • Representing the TiDB community in external presentations
  • Teaching TiDB public courses as a certified instructor
  • Participating as a special guest in moderator exchange meetings

Ti Can Write:

  • Publishing technical articles related to TiDB
    • Requirements: 1500+ words, complete structure, clear explanation of technical points

What Are the Benefits of MVA & MOA?

MVA Benefits

  1. Exclusive CPU keychain for TiDB Technical Evangelists
  2. Experience points & points reward of 300 points
  3. Custom MVA plaque
  4. Peripheral gifts
  5. New course beta testing qualification (exempt from review)
  6. Devcon ticket (single ticket)

MOA Benefits

  1. Experience points & points reward of 500 points
  2. Custom MOA plaque
  3. Holiday gift box
  4. PCTP certification once
  5. Community peripheral blind box set of 5
  6. New course beta testing qualification (exempt from review)
  7. Community event speaker
  8. Devcon ticket (multiple tickets)

2022 MVA/MOA Honor Roll:

Learning Materials

My Story with the TiDB Community

In this big family of the community, everyone is an indispensable part. You can share your stories with the TiDB community partners.

2
| username: 数据小黑 | Original post link

Many questions can be searched on asktug, and multiple solutions are clear at a glance.

3
| username: ablewang_xiaobo | Original post link

A great place that has also solved many problems.

4
| username: BraveChen | Original post link

Too many people interested~ hard to handle