Debian is Not a Community, Many Debian Developers Work for Large Companies Including GAFAM (US)
"Community" as a word sure sounds like friendship and amicability, but some things that began as a community later became something else; volunteers became corporate shills, coding was replaced by LLM slop (plagiarism), and trust became harassment and censorship by CoCs mandated by large sponsors looking to save face and suppress criticism.
This is not only the trajectory of Debian. It is one of many.
If I ever attempted to enter Debian, I'd likely be turned down as I'm not good at being a parrot of lies of corporations or sucking up to these corporations in exchange for their "rewards". Remember who sponsors Debian's servers and why.
When we say "corporations" we mostly allude to very large companies, not small firms, which can SLAPP and bully critics while bribing public officials ("slush funds") and whole projects. They can also buy their rivals.
Debian is mobbing people or acting like a "cult" (as a Debian Developer put it), just like many corporations do, more so if someone steps out of line and 'embarrasses' the Debian 'elites' (some of them work for GAFAM and are funded by GAFAM).
We're not talking about wunderkind developers but people whose credentials boil down to, "I'm good at silencing my critics..."
Debian is still our distro of choice (CERN has just dumped IBM for Debian), but recent developments worry us deeply. █
Image source: White tiger in Baicao Mountain