Situation

As a first time contributor, I've read the CONTRIBUTING.rst before. Although I went through it, I got the impression it doesn't talk to me. 😉 It seems to be written for people who release towncrier or have admin rights. This gave me the feeling I was not the target group.

Proposed solution

As this is a relevant and essential file of this project, we should address and attract potential contributors and not confuse them. I would suggest:

• Distinguish between content that is needed for project admins and contributors.
• Clearly address your target group (first time/occasional developer vs. project admin).
• Use the CONTRIBUTING.rst file only for contributors and move the existing content to another file.
• Provide a concise step-by-step introduction which could also be used as a checklist.
• Give some recommendations where necessary.

Here is an example what I did in another project: https://python-semver.readthedocs.io/en/latest/development.html It's probably not perfect, but it serves as a source for inspiration. 😉