diff --git a/contrib/contributors.py b/contrib/contributors.py
index 9e97d22..4db8241 100755
--- a/contrib/contributors.py
+++ b/contrib/contributors.py
@@ -1,20 +1,24 @@
 #!/usr/bin/python2
-"""List contributors that are not yet in the contributor list
+"""Update the contributor list
 
 Alias handling is done by git with .mailmap
+New contributors are merged in the short-term list.
+Moving them to a "higher" list should be a manual process.
 """
 
-import sys
+import fileinput
 from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
 
-def main():
-    if len(sys.argv) > 1:
-        branch = sys.argv[1]
-    else:
-        branch = "master"
+def format_contributor(contributor):
+    return " * {0} {1}".format(
+            " ".join(contributor["name"]),
+            contributor["email"])
 
+
+def main():
+    # generate list of contributors
     contributors=[]
-    p_git = Popen(["git", "shortlog", "-se", branch], stdout=PIPE)
+    p_git = Popen(["git", "shortlog", "-se"], stdout=PIPE)
     for line in p_git.stdout:
         contributors.append({
             'count': int(line.split("\t")[0].strip()),
@@ -22,6 +26,7 @@ def main():
             'email': line.split("\t")[1].split()[-1]
             })
 
+    # cache listed contributors
     old_contributors=[]
     with open("CONTRIBUTORS.rst", "r") as contrib_file:
         for line in contrib_file:
@@ -35,6 +40,7 @@ def main():
     # So we parse it anyways and strip it off again.
     old_emails = map(lambda x: x['email'], old_contributors)
 
+    # check which contributors are new
     new_contributors=[]
     for contributor in contributors:
         if contributor["email"] not in old_emails:
@@ -43,9 +49,34 @@ def main():
     # sort on the last word of the name
     new_contributors = sorted(new_contributors,
             key=lambda x: x['name'][-1].lower())
+
+    # show new contributors to be merged to the list
     for contributor in new_contributors:
-        print "{0:3d} {1:25s} {2}".format(contributor["count"],
-                " ".join(contributor["name"]), contributor["email"])
+        print format_contributor(contributor)
+
+    # merge with contributor list
+    i = 0
+    short_term_found = False
+    for line in fileinput.input("CONTRIBUTORS.rst", inplace=1):
+        if not short_term_found:
+            print line,
+            if "Short-term" in line:
+                short_term_found = True
+        else:
+            if i >= len(new_contributors) or "@" not in line:
+                print line,
+            else:
+                contributor = new_contributors[i]
+                if line.split()[-2] > contributor["name"][-1]:
+                    print format_contributor(contributor)
+                    i += 1
+                print line,
+    # append remaining contributors
+    with open("CONTRIBUTORS.rst", "a") as contrib_file:
+        while i < len(new_contributors):
+            contrib_file.write(format_contributor(new_contributors[i]) + "\n")
+            i += 1
+
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     main()