Pausing of Monthly TYPO3 Review Fridays

The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting all our lives in different ways nowadays. On March 15, 2020 the TYPO3 Association’s Board published the advice to stop physical meetings until further notice. For the rest of the year, this leads to the cancelation of all TYPO3 community events - a really sad realization, given that a major part of this unique open source community is the socializing, the personal exchange and the vivid spirit at annual events like various TYPO3 Camps, TYPO3 Developer Days, or the TYPO3 Conference.

Against the background of the current distance regulations due to the Coronavirus, an event with hundreds of participants gathered together would just be irresponsible and therefore is not possible at the moment. Needless to say, the question arose about how to cope with this situation in the near future.

Even though physical meetings of larger groups of people aren’t possible whatsoever, people still feel the urge to connect with others in these times of distancing. Similar to musicians who now stream their performances online, a lot of TYPO3 events have been adjusted to be held digitally for everyone to join remotely. However, it’s definitely up for debate whether these efforts serve as a proper substitute for the canceled events.

One special event which has taken place remotely for the last couple of months was the TYPO3 Review Friday. Since its initiation two years ago, this recurring get-together has enjoyed great popularity in the past. Some participants like TYPO3 developer Richard Haeser from our partner MaxServ have slowly but surely become a fixed part of the event. In his blog, Richard explains his experiences with a past Review Friday and encourages other TYPO3 developers to engage in this event as well. Unfortunately, this is proving to be a difficult task for the near future.

Let’s face the facts: At the moment, nobody really knows how long the remote execution  of Review Fridays would have lasted due to the known circumstances. That’s why the development team of the TYPO3 GmbH has collectively decided to pause future Review Fridays until further notice. According to the DEV team, a collaboration on a personal level is much more fruitful than a digital get-together when it comes to coding, reviewing, and testing for our favorite CMS. Therefore this decision was made after discussing the possible options.

Of course, this should not be understood as a break for the contribution to the TYPO3 Project. We would love for all hardworking TYPO3 developers to still contribute and support the project in growing further. The time will come when Review Fridays can be considered a regular option for contribution again. We’re very much looking forward to it again!

To ensure everyone’s well-being, we’d like to ask you to be aware of the official guidances from the WHO, your local health authorities, and governments. Make sure to wash your hands regularly, wear your mouth-and-nose protection like our stylish TYPO3 Corona Masks and maintain a distance of one and a half meters to other people. Take care of yourself - stay safe and sound!