Add a CONTRIBUTING.md file

Author: ingydotnet

CONTRIBUTING.md

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+Contributing to go-yaml
+=======================
+
+Thank you for your interest in contributing to go-yaml!
+
+This document provides guidelines and instructions for contributing to this
+project.
+
+
+## Code of Conduct
+
+By participating in this project, you agree to follow our Code of Conduct.
+
+We expect all contributors to:
+- Be respectful and inclusive
+- Use welcoming and inclusive language
+- Be collaborative and constructive
+- Focus on what is best for both the Go and YAML communities
+
+
+## How to Contribute
+
+
+### Reporting Issues
+
+Before submitting an issue, please:
+- Check if the issue already exists in our issue tracker
+- Use a clear and descriptive title
+- Provide detailed steps to reproduce the issue
+- Include relevant code samples and error messages
+- Specify your Go version and operating system
+
+
+### Pull Requests
+
+1. Fork the repository
+1. Create a new branch for your changes
+1. Make your changes following our coding conventions
+   - If you are not sure about the coding conventions, please ask
+   - Look at the existing code for examples
+1. Write clear commit messages
+1. Update tests and documentation
+1. Submit a pull request
+
+
+### Coding Conventions
+
+- Follow standard Go coding conventions
+- Use `gofmt` to format your code
+- Write descriptive comments for non-obvious code
+- Add tests for your work
+- Keep line length to 80 characters
+- Use meaningful variable and function names
+- Start doc and comment sentences on a new line
+
+
+### Commit Conventions
+
+- No merge commits
+- Commit subject line should:
+  - Start with a capital letter
+  - Not end with a period
+  - Be no more than 50 characters
+
+
+### Testing
+
+- Run `make review` before submitting changes
+- Ensure all tests pass
+- Add new tests for new functionality
+- Update existing tests when modifying functionality
+
+
+## Development Setup
+
+- Install Go (see [go.mod](https://github.com/yaml/go-yaml/blob/main/go.mod) for
+  minimum required version)
+- Fork and clone the repository
+- Make your changes
+- Run tests and linters
+
+
+## Using the Makefile
+
+The repository contains a `GNUmakefile` that provides a number of useful
+targets:
+
+- `make review` runs the tests and linters
+- `make test` runs the tests
+- `make test v=1 count=3` runs the tests with options
+- `make test GO-VERSION=1.23.4` runs the tests with a specific Go version
+- `make shell` opens a shell with the project's dependencies set up
+- `make shell GO-VERSION=1.23.4` opens a shell with a specific Go version
+- `make fmt` runs `go fmt`
+- `make tidy` runs `go mod tidy`
+- `make install` runs `go install`
+- `make distclean` cleans the project completely
+
+
+## Getting Help
+
+If you need help, you can:
+- Open an issue with your question
+- Read through our documentation
+- Join our [Slack channel](https://cloud-native.slack.com/archives/C08PPAT8PS7)
+
+
+## We are a Work in Progress
+
+This project is very much a team effort.
+We are just getting things rolling and trying to get the foundations in place.
+There are lots of opinions and ideas about how to do things, even within the
+core team.
+
+Once our process is more mature, we will likely change the rules here.
+We'll make the new rules as a team.
+For now, please stick to the rules as they are.
+
+This project is focused on serving the needs of both the Go and YAML
+communities.
+Sometimes those needs can be in conflict, but we'll try to find common ground.
+
+
+## Thank You
+
+Thank you for contributing to go-yaml!