> "We need to support open-source maintainers better!"

> "Let's have a conference to discuss how to help them!"

> "We should provide resources without adding requirements."

> "But how do we do that without more funding or time?"

> "Let's ask the maintainers what they need!"

> Maintainers: "We need more support and less pressure!"

> "Great! We'll discuss this at the next conference!"

> "We need to support open-source maintainers better!"

Maybe some maintainers should be invited to these conferences? And maybe more direct communication with the projects you want to contribute to? I get the impression from the article that these conferences the author describes are more virtue signalling than an attempt to solve the issue.

I do think that advice at the end of the article is useful, but the opening makes me feel that no one's actually having a conversation with maintainers.