Why does the commit fest app not automatically fill in the author for a new patch?
And relatedly, every commit fest, there are a few patches registered without authors, probably because of the above behavior.
Could this be improved?
Can't say I recall why it was done that way originally. I assume you're suggesting author should default to whomever adds it to the app? Or to somehow try to match it out of the attached email?
I'm guessing the original discussion could have something to do with a time when a lot of authors didn't register their own patches (think good old wiki days), it was just a third party who filled it all out. But today there is probably no reason not to default it to that, as long as it can be changed.
I'm not sure it's a good idea to *enforce* it -- because you can't register an author until they have logged into the CF app once. And I think registering it with no author is better than registering it with the wrong author.