The author definitely seems to be assuming that every project fits a single profile - small enough to have only a single maintainer, simple enough that a non-sp

The author definitely seems to be assuming that every project fits a single profile - small enough to have only a single maintainer, simple enough that a non-specialized programmer can navigate it or create a patch easily, etc. If turning off issues works for people like that, good for them. But this kind of thing really grates. "If we want to include more people in open source, I can't think of a better way than getting open source code on their machines and into their editors." Wrong pronoun. The author presumes to speak for "us" in open source, but doesn't really represent anyone but himself. For most of "us" getting more people involved requires quite a bit of work explaining how the code works, how the tests work, and so on. Anybody who's not putting in that kind of effort, even if it's because they don't need to on their personal hobby project, should STFU about what "we" can or should do to get more people involved in open source. Try working on a big, complex, multi-person project in a less-obvious specialty, and see if "just load this up in your editor and get back to me when you have a patch" will work.