Thoughts on the PSF , Introduction

The Python Software Foundation (PSF) is the non-profit that owns python.org, helps run PyPI, and makes sure PyCon happens. This is the introduction to a series of posts that will discuss some challenges that face the PSF and community as a whole, as well as some suggested solutions.

The big idea underlying all the little ideas in the following posts is this: The Python community is a unique and incredible community, and it is a community that I want to see grow and improve.

Python is full of welcoming, caring people, and that the Python community has shown over and over that it is not content to rest with any past good deeds, but is continually pushing to be more welcoming and more diverse. It was an incredibly powerful symbol to me that I spoke with multiple people at PyCon who don’t currently use Python for their jobs, but come to PyCon to be a part of the community. When I find people who want to get into programming, I point them at Python partially because I think the language is more beginner-friendly than most, but mostly because I know the community is there to support them.

The only qualification I claim for this series is caring deeply about this incredible community. If you want to learn more about my background, check out the about page. The ideas that I’m going to be presenting are a combination of my own thoughts, and conversations I’ve had at various conferences, and in IRC channels, and on mailing lists. I’m not claiming to be most qualified to speak on these things.

I have no real desire to critique the past. My goal is to start a conversation about the PSF’s future, a future which hopefully sees the PSF taking an even bigger role in supporting the community. To that end, there’s three things that I think we should be talking about, which I’ll discuss over the next three posts.

Strengthening the Python ecosystem

Encouraging new adoption of Python and new Python community members

Supporting the existing Python community

If you are inspired to start these conversations, comments will be open on these posts, although I will be moderating heavily against anything the devolves into attacks. Assume the the PyCon Code of Conduct applies. I would be thrilled if these posts started discussion on the official PSF mailing lists, or in local user groups, or among your friends.

In the upcoming post, I’ll talk about challenges that face the Python ecosystem. I’ll talk about support and maintenance of the Python Package Index, why it should matter tremendously to the Python community, and what the community and the PSF could be doing to better support PyPI and package maintainers. Sign up for our mailing list to hear about the next post when it’s published.

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