If you’ve ever noticed a notification in STAPLE that includes someone’s name followed by “(former contributor)”, you might have wondered why. Especially if that person is still active in the project — or was re-added later.
This post explains what that label means, and why it’s intentional.
Notifications are a record of what happened, when it happened
In STAPLE, notifications are treated as a historical activity log, not a live view of the current project roster.
That means notifications reflect:
- who performed an action
- at the time the action occurred
They do not update retroactively when project membership changes.
This is similar to how:
- Git commit history works
- Issue comments work on GitHub
- Activity logs work in project management tools
History stays history.
What happens when someone leaves a project
When a contributor is removed from a project:
- Their name is anonymized elsewhere in the app (for example, in current member lists)
- Past notifications remain readable and accurate
- To avoid confusion, STAPLE adds a small note to older notifications:
(former contributor)
This simply means: “This person was part of the project when this action happened, but later left the project.” Nothing more, nothing less.
What if the person is re-added later?
When someone is re-added to a project:
- A new notification is created saying they were added again
- Any new activity going forward appears under their name normally
- Older notifications are not changed
So you might see:
- Older notifications marked “former contributor”
- Newer notifications showing them as an active contributor
This reflects reality: the person had multiple membership periods in the project.
Why we don’t “fix” old notifications
It might seem tempting to clean up older notifications when someone rejoins — but doing so would rewrite history.
STAPLE is designed to support transparency, accountability, and long-running collaborative research projects. Preserving an accurate timeline matters more than making everything look uniform.
The short version
- Notifications show what happened at the time
- “Former contributor” provides context, not judgment
- Re-adding someone creates a new event — it doesn’t erase the past
- This helps keep project history clear, consistent, and trustworthy
If you ever have questions about how STAPLE handles project history, we’re always happy to explain — clarity is part of good collaboration.
Citation
@online{buchanan2025,
author = {Buchanan, Erin},
title = {Why {Some} {Notifications} {Show} “{Former} {Contributor}”},
date = {2025-12-14},
url = {posts/2025-12-14-notification-update},
langid = {en}
}