How design proposals should work

[needsofmany]

Purpose

Use this category for design proposals that need discussion before they become scoped Issues or Pull Requests.

Good topics for Design Proposals include:

• export and import behavior
• official Simply Plural export normalization
• database schema changes
• SQLite support
• local viewer architecture
• validation and reporting behavior
• REST API compatibility decisions
• authentication and token-handling boundaries
• website structure or public messaging changes
• contributor workflow or governance changes

Proposal shape

A useful proposal should usually include:

• the problem being solved
• the users or contributors affected
• the proposed behavior or design
• privacy and safety considerations
• compatibility concerns
• alternatives considered
• what would need to change in code, docs, website, or tests

Privacy boundary

Do not attach or paste real Simply Plural exports, real System data, tokens, screenshots containing private data, notes, messages, avatar images, friend data, fronting history, logs, or database files created from real exports.

Use synthetic examples or carefully redacted descriptions.

From proposal to work item

A Design Proposal can become an Issue after the direction is clear enough to scope into actionable work.