updates based on PR discussion

Author: eteq

policies/adding-new-maintainers.md

@@ -1,24 +1,36 @@
-Maintainers are the people who keep a package or sub-package working. In particular, they review and merge PRs, keep track of what's going on and organize ideas for future development (see https://www.astropy.org/team.html#Subpackage_maintainer for details). Therefore, a maintainer usually has experience with a package e.g. through work they did themselves or by commenting and helping others to work on PRs in a package or sub-package. There is no formal minimum on the number of commits/PRs/etc. though, anyone can volunteer or be suggested as a maintainer following the process below.
+This document describes the process for adding new people to named roles. This
+document is *not* about how people are nominated for a rolein the first place,
+but rather the process by which they are added once nominated. The
+process itself is in the hands of the Coordination Committee according to
+[APE0](https://github.com/astropy/astropy-APEs/blob/main/APE0.rst).
 
-This document describes the process for adding new people to maintainer roles.
-"Maintainer" here basically means any role with github write powers. The
-process is in the hands of the Coordination Committee according to
-[APE0](https://github.com/astropy/astropy-APEs/blob/main/APE0.rst). The process is:
+Note some of the steps below are highlighted as specific for maintainers.
+Maintainers are the people who keep a package or sub-package working. In
+particular, they  review and merge PRs, keep track of what's going on and
+organize ideas for  future development (see
+https://www.astropy.org/team.html#Subpackage_maintainer
+for details). Therefore, a maintainer requires particular Github permissions,
+which is highlighted in the process below.
 
-1. Either the Coordination Committee or any community member including the 
-   nominee may nominate someone for a role via private or public email,
-   Slack message, in person request that is then recorded in meeting notes, etc.
-2. A Coordination Committee member then sends a message to the person
+The process is:
+
+1. A Coordination Committee member sends a message to the person
    nominated, making sure they understand the role, its responsibilities, and
-   confirming that the nominee agrees. Suggested text of that message is 
+   confirming that the nominee agrees. Suggested text of that message is
    [here](https://github.com/astropy/astropy-project/blob/main/messages/maintainer_access.md).
+2. The nominee should also be asked (generally but not necessarily in the
+   message above) to confirm they agree the Code of Conduct, and that they are
+   aware of maintainer guidelines if the role is a maintainer role.
 3. If the nominee does not accept, the process stops here.
 4. If the nominee does accept, a message is sent to the community, starting
    a two-week clock on the feedback period [as required by APE0](https://github.com/astropy/astropy-APEs/blob/main/APE0.rst#responsibilities-and-authority).
-   The Coordination Committee member overseeing the process can make a PR at
+   The Coordination Committee member overseeing the process should make a PR at
    this time adding the member to the roles page as a place for public comment.
 5. Once the two week period has elapsed, the coordination committee makes a
-   final decision based on any feedback. 
-6. If the appointment is confirmed, the nominee is added to the roles page (i.e., the PR created in step 4 can
-   be merged), and the nominee receives the necessary Github or other 
-   permissions and a confirmation message to complete the process.
+   final decision based on any feedback.
+6. If the appointment is confirmed, the nominee is added to the roles page
+   (i.e., the PR created in step 4 can be merged).
+7. If a maintainer, the nominee receives the necessary Github or other
+   permissions.
+8. The Coordination Committee member sends a confirmation message to the nominee
+   to complete the process.