But do you expect many people to want to maintain a software project, but not know or care which one? Obviously trying to contact the author or previous mainta

But do you expect many people to want to maintain a software project, but not know or care which one? Obviously trying to contact the author or previous maintainer of an abandoned project can be difficult, but then even this wouldn't help much as they'd still need to transfer ownership to the new maintainer(s). Maybe you could offer an 'ownership escrow service' for your target audience too. That would be potentially very helpful for people that really want to wash their hands of a project.