The idea that open source was better when mailing lists were the norm is somewhat absurd. Back in the days when everything ran on lists, I did not contribute o

The idea that open source was better when mailing lists were the norm is somewhat absurd. Back in the days when everything ran on lists, I did not contribute once. With Github, I started making two or three small improvements per week and took own responsibility for a few projects. Maybe larger projects worked more smoothly, with people being more involved in development. But that experience could easily be recreated on Github. Just make it as difficult as possible to contribute, and you'll always end up with a small circle of dedicated contributors.