I think there’s a problem centring the core, those with most expertise, historical knowledge, and who carry the longest cultural view on GitHub because it is less accessible, even inaccessible to most people.
People arrive here and think, this is it?! Which further inhibits growth, and that inhibits creativity, collaboration, sharing of understanding, learning etc.
I understand there are reasons for focusing on GitHub, but I think they don’t justify the damage this does. Gitter is more accessible, but it isn’t a place for building community, and it further dilutes the knowledge and the social network of Solid.
And on top of this we have Inrupt which has removed a number of Solid’s core players and doesn’t share it’s vision or seek to collaborate in public.
If you want to build a broad inclusive community, which IMO is very important, I think it helps if the hub is in one place and accessible, and that as many of those with more skills and knowledge see it as important to engage there much more than is currently the case.
It’s not about making everyone be active in the hub, but shifting from Islands which are largely cut off, to a hub with spokes. Then everyone knows that when they want to engage broadly, share key information, seek collaboration, ask questions or search for like minded community members etc, there is one place everyone knows to go, or to direct people wanting to learn or contribute.
You can have niches radiating from the hub, so for people who want to examine code etc they can go to GitHub and discuss code issues there - because most who want to do that will not find GitHub a barrier. Etc.