The "Contributing Ebuilds" document explains how users are to upload ebuilds to bugzilla, but then stops. It seems like a good idea to tell contributors what the process is from there on out. Are users supposed to do anything else to help see their contribution through? I actually don't know and haven't run across the policy in the documentation. In any case, it seems like something volunteers should know to keep them from being frustrated and keep them volunteering.
What can they do expect waiting patiently?
Well I'm not sure. That's why I'm suggesting this addition in the first place :) But seriously, currently a first-time ebuild author would be all excited. He's getting his program in portage! He's contributing to Gentoo! He's working out how it all works, probably spending a lot of time researching the issue, crafting the file, finally posting to bugzilla and hopefully getting feedback. He's finally answered all criticisms and his ebuild is done! Hurray! And now on to portage.... right? Wait, why is his package sitting there at maintainer-wanted? The first time contributor is now confused and frightened. Is he supposed to do something else? Did he do something wrong? It's pretty disillusioning to see all of this momentum just stop without warning. If the documentation said that the contributor would have to wait patiently for a developer then that would be fine. At least he would know that the next step is out of his hands. Better documentation might mention IRC and overlays. I'm being humorous and dramatic here, but I hope you get the point. A new contributor probably expects his package to end up in portage, but the docs stop before that point.
There's not much a user can do except waiting. He can annoy the community, ask different devs in priv, spam our mailing lists, none of which we like or appreciate. Thanks for reporting but i have to mark it as wontfix.
That's the point! To avoid having a user bugging the devs or having his feelings hurt the docs should indicate that now the user should wait patiently and that the process might take a while.
