Handling Rejection

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                        REJECTION STATISTICS                                 │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                             │
│  Your first 10 PRs:        ~40% will be rejected or need major rework      │
│  Your next 20 PRs:         ~25% rejection rate                             │
│  Experienced contributors: ~10-15% rejection rate                           │
│                                                                             │
│  Even Linus Torvalds gets patches rejected sometimes.                       │
│                                                                             │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Maintainer: "Thanks for the PR! Unfortunately, we're not taking this direction 
right now. Appreciate your effort though."
 
What it means:
- Nothing personal
- Just doesn't fit
- Door might open later

✅ Good response:
"Thanks for considering it! I understand. Let me know if there's a different 
approach that would work better for the project."
 
❌ Bad response:
"Why not? This is clearly better than the current implementation."

Maintainer: "This needs significant changes: different architecture, 
refactored tests, updated docs. Might be easier to start fresh."
 
What it means:
- Core approach needs changing
- Not worth iterating on current version

✅ Good response:
"Got it. Should I:
1. Close this and open new PR with revised approach?
2. Discuss the architecture first in an issue?
3. Step back and let someone else tackle it?
 
What would be most helpful?"
 
❌ Bad response:
"I already spent 20 hours on this!"

Maintainer: "We won't add this feature. It goes against our design philosophy."
 
What it means:
- Project direction is different
- Feature won't be accepted (ever)

✅ Good response:
"Understood. Thanks for clarifying the project's direction."
 
[Then move on]
 
❌ Bad response:
"But look at all these stars on my fork!"

[Your PR sits for 2 months]
[Then gets auto-closed by bot or maintainer]
 
What it means:
- Low priority
- Maintainers overwhelmed
- Probably not interested

✅ Good response:
"Closing due to inactivity. Thanks for your time reviewing. 
Open to reopening if there's renewed interest."
 
❌ Bad response:
[Opening new PR with same code without discussion]

"Thank you for reviewing this and for the feedback. I understand this doesn't 
fit the project's direction right now. 
 
I learned a lot from attempting this, so it was valuable regardless. 
 
Looking forward to contributing in other ways!"

"Thanks for closing this. I understand the decision.
 
To help me improve for future PRs: was the core issue:
- The approach itself?
- Implementation quality?
- Project priorities?
 
No worries if you're too busy to elaborate—I'll study other PRs to learn."

"I understand this approach doesn't work. 
 
Would the project be interested in a scaled-down version that:
- Only does X (not X, Y, Z)
- Focuses on the core use case
- Requires less maintenance
 
If not, no problem—happy to look for other issues to tackle."

"Got it! This feature is important for my use case, so I'll maintain a fork. 
 
If there's ever interest in merging something similar, I'm happy to adapt it."

Bad:
"But you NEED this feature because [10 paragraphs]"
"I spent WEEKS on this"
"Your project will fail without this"
"Other projects have this feature"

Bad:
"You obviously don't understand good code"
"This project is badly managed"
"Other maintainers would appreciate this"
"I'm never contributing here again"

Bad:
"Fine, I'll just fork it since you don't want good contributions"
"Guess you don't actually want help"
"Thanks for wasting my time"

Bad:
[PR closed]
[Open new PR with exact same code]
[Repeat]

## What Happened
PR #123 rejected for [reason]
 
## Their Feedback
- Point 1
- Point 2
- Point 3
 
## My Mistakes
- Should have discussed approach first
- Didn't check roadmap
- Scope too large
 
## What I Learned
- Always open issue for discussion before big changes
- Read CONTRIBUTING guide more carefully
- Start smaller
 
## Next Time
- Smaller, focused PRs
- Get buy-in before coding
- Test the waters with maintainers first

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                      REJECTION FILTERS MINDSET                              │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                             │
│  Bad mindset:  "I got rejected → I'm not good enough"                       │
│                                                                             │
│  Good mindset: "I got rejected → This approach/project wasn't right"        │
│                                                                             │
│  Better:       "I got rejected → Here's what I'll do differently"           │
│                                                                             │
│  Best:         "I got rejected → Great feedback for improvement"            │
│                                                                             │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     REJECTION → RESPONSE MAP                                │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                             │
│  Rejection Type         How to Respond                                      │
│  ═══════════════        ═══════════════                                     │
│                                                                             │
│  Out of scope          → Thank them, ask about alternatives                 │
│  Needs rework          → Ask for guidance, offer to revise                  │
│  Hard no               → Thank them, move on gracefully                     │
│  Radio silence         → Wait 2 weeks, then close yourself                  │
│  Rude rejection        → Stay professional, consider leaving                │
│  Duplicate work        → Congratulate other contributor                     │
│  Timing issues         → Ask if you should revisit later                    │
│                                                                             │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘