A Note on Recent GitHub Access Changes
Explore The Turing Way Book and connect with us via our start page.
Dear Turing Way community,
Some of you recently received an automated GitHub message saying you were “removed as a collaborator” from one of our repositories. This default wording from GitHub’s automated email felt abrupt and can be misleading for the previous contributors and collaborators in our community. As announced in our previous newsletter, Slack workspace and LinkedIn post, we want to reassure you about what this change actually means, and what it does not mean.
What changed
As part of ongoing work to improve the security and sustainability of our project, we have moved from granting individual write access to all contributors, to managing permissions through GitHub teams. This ensures safer repositories, easier maintenance for volunteers, and a workflow aligned with common open source practices.
What this does not mean
❌ You were not removed from the community.
❌ Your contributions are not lost or devalued.
❌ You are not prevented from contributing and participating.
Your past work remains permanently credited, and you are always welcome to continue participating. You can still open issues, submit pull requests, join working groups, and collaborate as before.
Why we made this change
Managing access through teams creates a consistent, transparent, and secure structure that protects the project and makes it easier for everyone to contribute safely. This is the standard approach in most FLOSS communities, and it ensures our workflows scale as the project grows.
Thank you for your collaboration
Community is at the heart of The Turing Way. Whether you contribute regularly or occasionally, you are valued, appreciated and always acknowledged. We are grateful for everything you have done, and value your contributions in the future.
If you believe you need a different access level, please reach out in the #repository-access-migration Slack channel or contact us directly by email.
Thank you for your continued support, collaboration, and consideration for helping us build a more sustainable Turing Way.
With appreciation,
The Turing Way Steering Committee
Get involved + Connect with us!
You are welcome to join The Turing Way community and learn more about the project.
If you'd like to contribute to the next newsletter, please contact the Community Management Working group on Github or Slack! Email theturingway@gmail.com for more information.
Did you miss the last newsletters? Check them out here.
Please note: We are no longer affiliated to The Alan Turing Institute and hence would not be using turingway@turing.ac.uk email. Please use theturingway@gmail.com email to reach out to the project in the future.