On Sat, 05 Dec 2009 22:00:41 -0500
William Allen Simpson [off-list ref] wrote:

quoted

You come out of nowhere as a new contributor.  You have to constantly
ask about policy and other formalities wrt. kernel development.
  

Because they are not documented.  Oh, and a reminder -- you've not
answered my most recent questions....

Might I suggest a look at Documentation/HOWTO and
Documentation/development-process/?  You might find that more of this
stuff is better documented than you think.  If there are gaps, please
let us know where they are, and we'll endeavor to fill them in.

jon