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+Writing good issue reports
+==========================
+
+First things first: **the issue tracker is NOT for tech support**. It is for
+reporting bugs and requesting features. If your issue amounts to "I can't get
+YCM to work on my machine" and the reason why is obviously related to your
+machine configuration and the problem would not be resolved with _reasonable_
+changes to the YCM codebase, then the issue is likely to be closed.
+
+Realize that quite literally _thousands_ of people have gotten YCM to work
+successfully so if you can't, it's probably because you have a peculiar
+system/Vim configuration or you didn't go through the docs carefully enough.
+It's very unlikely to be caused by an actual bug in YCM because someone would
+have already found it and reported it.
+
+This leads us to point #2: **make sure you have checked the docs before
+reporting an issue**. The docs are extensive and cover a ton of things; there's
+also an FAQ at the bottom that quite possibly addresses your problem.
+
+Further, **search the issue tracker for similar issues** before creating a new
+one. There's no point in duplication; if an existing issue addresses your
+problem, please comment there instead of creating a duplicate.
+
+Lastly, **make sure you are running the latest version of YCM**. The issue you
+have encountered may have already been fixed.
+
+OK, so we've reached this far. You need to create an issue. First realize that
+the time it takes to fix your issue is inversely proportional to how long it
+takes the developer to reproduce it. The easier it is to reproduce, the quicker
+it'll be fixed.
+
+Here are the things you should do when creating an issue:
+
+1. **Write a step-by-step sequence of steps that repeatedly reproduce your
+   issue.** If we can't reproduce the issue, then we can't fix it. It's that
+   simple.
+2. **Create a test case for your issue**. This is critical. Don't talk about how
+   "when I have X in my file" or similar, _create a file with X in it_ and put
+   the contents inside code blocks in your issue description. Try to make this
+   test file _as small as possible_. Don't just paste a huge, 500 line source
+   file you were editing and present that as a test. _Minimize_ the file so that
+   the problem is reproduced with the smallest possible amount of test data.
+3. **Include your OS and OS version.**
+4. **Include the output of `vim --version`.**
+
+
+Creating good pull requests
+===========================
+
+1.  **Follow the code style of the existing codebase.**
+    - The Python code **DOES NOT** follow PEP 8. This is not an oversight, this
+      is by choice. You can dislike this as much as you want, but you still need
+      to follow the existing style. Look at other Python files to see what the
+      style is.
+    - The C++ code has an automated formatter (`style_format.sh` that runs
+      `astyle`) but it's not perfect. Again, look at the other C++ files and
+      match the code style you see.
+    - Same thing for VimScript. Match the style of the existing code.
+
+2.  **Explain in detail why your pull request makes sense.** Ask yourself, would
+    this feature be helpful to others? Not just a few people, but a lot of YCM’s
+    users? See, good features are useful to many. If your feature is only useful
+    to you and _maybe_ a couple of others, then that’s not a good feature.
+    There is such a thing as “feature overload”. When software accumulates so
+    many features of which most are only useful to a handful, then that software
+    has become “bloated”. We don’t want that.
+
+    Requests for features that are obscure or are helpful to but a few, or are
+    not part of YCM's "vision" will be rejected. Yes, even if you provide a
+    patch that completely implements it.
+
+    Please include details on exactly what you would like to see, and why. The
+    why is important - it's not always clear why a feature is really useful. And
+    sometimes what you want can be done in a different way if the reason for the
+    change is known. _What goal are you trying to accomplish?_