I want to clarify a little housekeeping detail. I am regularly receiving chat invites on Gitter. As a GSoC Org Admin, I will not accept bi-lateral conversations (aka direct chats or mails).
This is not because I want to ignore you (to the contrary). But because, as an Open Source Community, we work publicly. We don’t want give an advantage to any individual candidate. We want all candidates to get the same information. Knowledge should be open and a group effort. This is an important OSS principle.
On top of this, Direct Contacts are inefficient: they quickly become communication bottlenecks and point of failures.
I understand that this is very uncomfortable and unusual to many. But it is an important aspect of working with Open Source.
I recommend mentors to have the same attitude until the selection process is completed.
I will be more than happy to engage individually and hear personal experiences once, at least, the selection process is completed.
For private matters, such as communication difficulties with mentors, GSoC contributors, or Org Admins, please send a mail to gsoc-jenkins-org-admin@googlegroups.com. All Org Admins will be notified.
/- Jmm