I've participated in Pizza Bugs and Fun (PBF) several times, and it's always a fantastic event. It's an opportunity to test, document, and improve Joomla alongside fellow Joomlers, both in person and virtually. The most recent PBF on August 24th saw participation from people in Austria, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Kenya, Netherlands, Switzerland, the UK, and the USA.

During this event, we tested 34 patches, with 20 of them passing successfully. Some patches were tested only once, and we need two positive tests for a patch to be eligible for the next release.

On the documentation front, contributions were fewer this time, but we made valuable contacts, and the Documentation Team is gaining new volunteers!

I had the pleasure of meeting some enthusiastic new volunteers and took the opportunity to ask them about their experiences.

-- Maria Skampoura (Greece)

I was lucky enough to attend the Joomla Pizza Bugs and Fun (PBF) 24/08/2024!
I didn’t realize how much I missed having fun with friends online until the PBF that brought so many people together. People from all over the world. 

What an amazing event! 

I attended online, as most of us, and enjoyed the event as much as I would if I attended in-person. Although I am an active member of the Joomla community for something more than a year now, I did not have the pleasure of meeting everyone. Well, this was the case until the Pizza Bugs and Fun.

During the PBF, I had the pleasure to collaborate with so many members of the Joomla community, meet them, and have so much fun together. I loved the fact that all of us were working simultaneously on the same project while chatting and having a great time.

This reminded me of the old MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) days, when remote connection meant having loads of fun. Being with friends from all over the world, friends who you never met in-person but spend together a ridiculous amount of hours on doing things you enjoy! Yes, PBF was that much fun!

So, if you are skeptical about attending, I encourage you to do so. I will definitely be there to welcome you and share all the fun with you! 

Oh, I almost forgot, there is pizza on the house!  

Thank you to everyone in the Joomla community, organizers and members, who made this an amazing event to attend. Special thanks to Emmanuel Lemor for inviting me to the PBF, and to Olivier Buisard for inviting me to share my thoughts in this article.
I will see you all in the next one (can’t wait).

-- Mohamed Abdelaziz (Egypt)

It was my first time attending a PBF event, so I was a little confused about how the patches were organized and how the whole process worked, but I quickly found help from fantastic Joomlers like Emmanuel and Dieter, and everything went smoothly.

I can say that the teamwork and organization were amazing, and I enjoyed connecting with Joomlers from around the world. Looking forward to joining the next event.

Thank you!

As a final note, I want to thank all the committed volunteers who helped put this event together. We could not have made it without you. Great thanks to Benjamin, Dieter, Yann, Andreas, Carlos, Crystal, Sigrid, Louise, Shirielle and the Joomla 5.2 Release Managers Peter and Hannes. 
Thanks to the Bug Squad and the Maintainers who supported the event and helped throughout.

To recognize your contributions, please make sure to claim your Holopin badges for this event (ask me directly on Mattermost or through the OR PBF channel). Your efforts are greatly appreciated, and these badges are a small token of our gratitude. Thank you for your dedication and hard work!

I’m looking forward to seeing you on February 22 for the first edition of Pizza Bugs and Fun 2025!