[uncircle]

I believe the slightly higher barrier is a feature, and a good filter for low quality spam.

On the other hand, if I spent time and effort writing a patch for public release, I have no issues jumping through hurdles to see it published, whether I have to create an account or learning the correct incantation to git send-email. Usually the thing that stops contribution is finding the time and will to prepare a PR for review; in comparison to that effort, creating an account is trivial.

The way I see it, using a distributed VCS like git benefits from having a distributed ecosystem. Putting everything in Microsoft’s hand for them to train their commercial AI product on your code is a little reckless and short-sighted. And we could do with fewer siloes.

[Arnavion]

It's also not a wasted skill. Once you've learned how to `git send-email` for the sake of one project, you're now prepared to do the same for others.