The package maintainer system doesn't add additional people to share the same work, it creates additional bits of work for different people to do. Upstream can

The package maintainer system doesn't add additional people to share the same work, it creates additional bits of work for different people to do. Upstream can release a fix, and it doesn't get propagated to people on distro X because the package maintainer for X is busy with work, or is a parent now, or just isn't interested in the package any more. And if one proactive maintainer patches an issue, it doesn't help users on all the other distros, or users who get it directly from upstream. You're explaining how this works in response to concrete examples of where it hasn't worked. I understand how distro packaging works for some packages, but I've seen it fall down too many times for others, especially more niche things.