add CONTRIBUTING.md

Mostly a summarized version of, or pointers to, information found in the
wiki.

These guidelines are supposed to show up when users open new issues or
pull requests on github.
See https://github.com/blog/1184-contributing-guidelines

diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
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+# Thanks !
+
+Thanks for your feedback & contributions to the
+[collectd project](https://collectd.org/) !
+
+## Need help using collectd ?
+
+Please use the
+[collectd mailing list](http://mailman.verplant.org/listinfo/collectd) or the
+[#collectd IRC channel](https://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=#collectd).
+We'd like to keep the github issue tracker for bugreports and patch reviews.
+
+## Found a bug ?
+
+Please mention the exact collectd version you're using, how you installed it
+(built from source, or installed from packages. Where did you download it
+from). Which operating system/architecture, distribution and version are you
+running collectd on.
+
+If collectd crashes, try to get a
+[stack trace](https://collectd.org/wiki/index.php/Core_file).
+
+## Fixed a bug ? Want to add a feature ?
+
+Using git/github to submit changes is not mandatory. Sending patches to the
+[mailing-list](http://mailman.verplant.org/listinfo/collectd) is also fine.
+In both cases, take a quick look at the
+[submission guidelines](https://collectd.org/wiki/index.php/Submitting_patches)
+and the [coding style recommendations](https://collectd.org/wiki/index.php/Coding_style).
+
+Please try to submit **bugfixes** to the
+[oldest release branch](https://github.com/collectd/collectd/milestones) on
+which the bug is found, so that it gets included in every future **bugfix
+release**.
+
+Please try to submit **new features** to the master branch (which will become
+the next **feature release**).
+