[GSoC] Framing your questions correctly

There may be some shortcomings in open-source documentation. Feel free to seek help from the mentors. But make sure to give your best effort on finding them yourself first. Sometimes, they are there. Just you could not find it. Sometimes, the mentors have already provided the link to the documentation as an answer to another student in the mailing list or Slack. Make sure to go through the previous messages.

A serious turn off for me, when a student cannot find something - but they present it as a failure of the organization or the mentors. 

For example,
"How can I run your software? Your project lacks an installation guide!!". 

This is an actual message I received (paraphrased).

Such messages come across quite arrogant. Especially when the documentation is indeed there -- linked from the home page. The student just missed it! That's completely fine when a student fails to notice documentation and seeks assistance in locating it, except for the tone of the student in these messages (as if they found a huge shortcoming in the project).

The right way to frame this question without giving some attitude:
"Somehow I couldn't find the install instructions. Any help?"

I think GSoC students (actually any software engineering undergrad) need some training in communication skills. Not my responsibility as a GSoC mentor to teach communication skills to the GSoC candidates, especially in the application period when we are bombarded with candidates with a diverse range. Some great. Some so-so.

Being polite in your communication with the open-source community and the potential mentors helps a lot, especially in a competitive program such as GSoC. We want to find kind and pleasant people to work with. Not ones with an attitude. :)