RFC: Two years of BIP Editing, time for some new faces?

[Murch]

Howdy everyone,

I noticed a couple weeks ago that the two-year anniversary of the “new”
BIP Editors is coming up, and I want to comment on the state of the BIPs
repository and BIP Editorship. In the past two years
(2024-04-22–2026-04-22), the six BIP Editors left 4108 comments,
processed 596 pull requests (382 merged), and facilitated the
publication of 42 BIPs. We got a new BIP Process, touched up existing
documents, tidied up abandoned submissions, and fixed up the CI scripts.
There is still room for improvement, but I perceive a positive impact on
development discussions and an increase in submissions as the BIPs
repository became more lively again. I’m proud of what we have achieved
so far.

For most of this time, two BIP Editors contributed most of the work.
Then for the first quarter this year, I was the only BIP Editor that
regularly contributed to and did the vast majority of the day-to-day
work in the repository. I enjoy the work—but we added more BIP Editors
two years ago because it’s more than a one-person job.

I’m grateful for my colleagues’ contributions as well as the splendid
advice they’ve provided in our many discussions, and thankful that they
volunteered to serve the community!

After two years, I propose that we refresh the BIP Editor team. My
recommendation would be to aim for three BIP Editors that are all keen
on regularly contributing to the BIP Editor work in the repository.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts,
Murch

[stickies-v]

I'm not involved enough with the BIPs repository to have a good view on the

exact best number of editors, but I agree that it is better to have a smaller

group where everyone is actively engaged. Three sounds reasonable.

Thank you to all the editors, and special mention to Murch, for your excellent

work on revitalizing the BIPs repository in the last 2 years. For the visible and

the invisible work.

stickies-v

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[Greg Tonoski]

I will help you and join the BIP Editors team so that there are more contributors. What information do you need from me to complete authorization?

BTW I already offered my contributions two years ago in the mailing list.

Looking forward to a reply.

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[Jaroslav Dlouhy]

What does it entail to do the BIP Editor? Any specific expertise required? Do we have anymore details into the role? I would be happy to help if it is something I would be able to do.

Regards,

Zed

[Murch]

Hi Zed,

I’d say we are looking for people that have
• some experience contributing to a Bitcoin project or Bitcoin protocol
design
• solid command of English
• and enjoy detail-oriented work.

A BIP Editor should expect to invest at least 5–10 hours per week in the
repository with an open ended upper bound. Part of the work is fairly
clerical: keeping abreast of the open pull requests, nudging BIP owners
for review or PR authors for updates, and merging PRs when they are
ready for that. For modifications of existing BIPs, most of the review
should optimally come from the owners of the affected BIP. For new BIPs,
the editors should be able to give each a timely solid read, comment on
the technical feasibility, and provide some actionable constructive
feedback.

Except for labeling PRs and merging them, essentially all of the work of
BIP Editors could be done by any community member, so please feel free
to try it out yourself: take a look at one of the open pull requests¹,
give it a read, and leave some useful comments.

¹
https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/pulls?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Apr+-label%3A%22Metadata+Update%22+-label%3ATypo-to-be-collected+-label%3ACI

Cheers,
Murch

On 2026-04-27 12:51, 'Jaroslav Dlouhy' via Bitcoin Development Mailing

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[Murch]

Hi Greg,

thanks again for your interest. As I wrote to Zed in another branch of
this thread, almost all of the work BIP Editors do on a regular basis
can be contributed to by anyone: please feel free to give some of the
open pull requests a solid review and leave some constructive comments.
I expect that this conversation will probably move similarly slowly as
two years ago. I would surmise that candidates who made pertinent
contributions to the repository would be more likely to garner support
for a BIP Editor role.

Cheers,
Murch

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