Rewrite contributing docs

docs/contributing.md

@@ -1,55 +1,34 @@
 # Contributing to Soapbox
 
-When contributing to Soapbox, please first discuss the change you wish to make via issue,
-email, or any other method with the owners of this repository before making a change.
+Thank you for your interest in Soapbox!
 
-## Project Contribution Flow
+When contributing to Soapbox, please first discuss the change you wish to make by [opening an issue](https://gitlab.com/soapbox-pub/soapbox-fe/-/issues).
 
-It is recommended that you use the following guidelines to contribute to the Soapbox project:
+## Opening an MR (merge request)
 
-* Understand recommended [GitLab Flow](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InKNIvky2KE) methods on branch management
-* Use the following branch management process:
-    * Pull a fork
-    * Mirror the fork against the original repository, setting the mirror to only mirror to protected branches
-    * Set the master branch in your fork to Protected
-    * Never modify the master branch in your fork, so that your fork mirroring does not break
-    * Pull branches in your fork to solve specific issues
-    * Do merge requests only to the original repository master branch, so that your fork mirroring does not break
-* If you don't use the above policy, when your mirrored fork breaks mirroring, you can force your fork to back to successful mirroring using the following process:
-    * Unprotect the master branch of your fork from force push
-    * Use the following git commands from the cmd line of your local copy of your fork's master branch
-    ```
-    git remote add upstream /url/to/original/repo
-    git fetch upstream
-    git checkout master
-    git reset --hard upstream/master  
-    git push origin master --force
-    ```
-    * Re-protect the master branch of your fork from force push    
+1. Smash that "fork" button on GitLab to make a copy of the repo.
+2. Clone the repo locally, then begin work on a new branch (eg not `develop`).
+3. Push your branch to your fork.
+4. Once pushed, GitLab should provide you with a URL to open a new merge request right in your terminal. If not, do it [manually](https://gitlab.com/soapbox-pub/soapbox-fe/-/merge_requests/new).
 
-## Pull Request Process
+### Ensuring the CI pipeline succeeds
 
-1. Ensure any install or build dependencies are removed before the end of the layer when doing a
-   build.
-2. Update the README.md with details of changes to the interface, this includes new environment
-   variables, exposed ports, useful file locations and container parameters.
-3. Increase the version numbers in any examples files and the README.md to the new version that this
-   Pull Request would represent. The versioning scheme we use is [SemVer](http://semver.org/).
-4. You may merge the Pull Request in once you have the sign-off of two other developers, or if you
-   do not have permission to do that, you may request the second reviewer to merge it for you.
+When you push to a branch, the CI pipeline will run.
 
-## Text Editor Tools
+[Soapbox uses GitLab CI](https://gitlab.com/soapbox-pub/soapbox-fe/-/blob/develop/.gitlab-ci.yml) to lint, run tests, and verify changes.
+It's important this pipeline passes, otherwise we cannot merge the change.
 
-If you're using a text editor like [Atom](https://atom.io/) or [Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/), you can install tools to help you get linter feedback while you write code for the Soapbox project.
+New users of gitlab.com may see a "detatched pipeline" error.
+If so, please check the following:
 
-For Atom, you can install the following packages:
+1. Your GitLab email address is confirmed.
+2. You may have to have a credit card on file before the CI job will run.
 
-* [linter](https://atom.io/packages/linter)
-* [linter-ui-default](https://atom.io/packages/linter-ui-default)
-* [linter-eslint](https://atom.io/packages/linter-eslint)
-* [linter-stylelint](https://atom.io/packages/linter-stylelint)
+## Text editor
 
-For Visual Studio Code, you can install the following extensions:
+We recommend developing Soapbox with [VSCodium](https://vscodium.com/) (or its proprietary ancestor, [VS Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/)).
 
-* [ESLint](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=dbaeumer.vscode-eslint)
-* [vscode-stylelint](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=stylelint.vscode-stylelint)
+This will help give you feedback about your changes _in the editor itself_ before GitLab CI performs linting, etc.
+
+When this project is opened in Code it will automatically recommend extensions.
+See [`.vscode/extensions.json`](https://gitlab.com/soapbox-pub/soapbox-fe/-/blob/develop/.vscode/extensions.json) for the full list.