The “default” working model for open source projects (and some small/medium businesses) is working in public: you don’t need permission to contribute, you can just show up.

This works surprisingly well much of the time … but sometimes it doesn’t. When it doesn’t, people often retreat into working in private, with no mechanism for broader involvement.

This is a mistake! There is a middle ground, in between public and private, with the benefits of both: https://jacobian.org/2025/oct/18/working-in-between-public-and-private/