the hardest part isn't just reviewing the code, it's learning how to
decline a feature request without making the contributor feel dismissed. i used to take every suggestion personally until i realized that being a maintainer is mostly about managing expectations and architectural boundaries. if you want to practice this, try setting up a clear
CONTRIBUTING.md
with strict guidelines for scope and testing. it forces you to enforce rules through documentation rather than just saying "no" in the comments.
it's much easier to blame a document than your own opinion. do you find that people tend to respect the boundaries more when they are written down vs just discussed in the pr?