Hacktoberfest Do's and Don'ts

Hacktoberfest is an annual month-long event where developers of all experience levels contribute to open-source projects, participate in events, complete pull requests, and support these projects financially. It has become a household name in the developer community after 8 years, with over 100,000 developers participating annually. The event incentivizes completing four pull requests faster, but this has led to issues of spam pull requests and the need for project maintainers to opt-in with tags to prevent unwanted contributions. Despite these challenges, Hacktoberfest remains a great opportunity for both new and experienced developers to contribute to open-source projects and support their maintenance. To participate or maintain an open-source project during Hacktoberfest, it is essential to be respectful, follow the project's code of conduct and contributions guidelines, and look for projects with specific tags. The event also requires project maintainers to prepare their repositories beforehand and spend time reviewing and approving pull requests.