I don't know if the tone of conversations is different on mailing lists vs. web UIs like issues, PRs or code reviews.
As I said in another reply, I guess we can somehow reconcile both worlds by allowing PRs to be sent as patches to a mailing list - I guess https://sr.ht could support something like this (if it does not already).
The thing with the whole "entry barrier" point of people who want Org-mode development to happen on Git(Lab|Hub) is that they miss the point: I don't want more contributions, I want more engaged contributors, more committed support of any kind.
I find emails to be more engaging than emojis on a web interface - and I use both on a daily basis, so perhaps I don't deserve my #okboomer yet :)