[j1elo]

I did think about it when writing the idea, and in the end it still looks to me that it would be worth it.

This rule would mean contributors would actually care to initiate a conversation about their intented work, and would probably drive them towards projects where there is some activity and positive feedback from the maintainer, instead of projects which didn't want or ask for any contribution, like it happens now.

Also, I think such constructive environment could drive a reasonable maintainer to help the contributors by fast-tracking the PR in case the end of October was approaching. And by taking into account the PR merge date, not the PR creation date, it would mean you as participant could start working on some PR even before October.