I completely agree with you - we have to make this process modern, and simple. We just disagree on if it's necessary or not.
I hate arguments from authority, but here's the 2010 breakdown of committers by changesets (thanks Mercurial :-)). Who do you think is the most sensitive to such issues?
$ hg churn -c -d 2010 georg@python.org 1087 ********************************* solipsis@pitrou.net 987 ****************************** benjamin@python.org 959 ***************************** victor.stinner@haypocalc.com 696 ********************* dickinsm@gmail.com 629 ******************* ezio.melotti@gmail.com 462 ************** rdmurray@bitdance.com 404 ************ orsenthil@gmail.com 368 *********** python@rcn.com 331 ********** florent.xicluna@gmail.com 281 ********* brian.curtin@gmail.com 243 ******* alexander.belopolsky@gmail.com 237 ******* fuzzyman@voidspace.org.uk 195 ****** ronaldoussoren@mac.com 192 ****** merwok@netwok.org 180 ***** ziade.tarek@gmail.com 168 ***** bcannon@gmail.com 160 ***** martin@v.loewis.de 160 ***** vinay_sajip@yahoo.co.uk 159 ***** amk@amk.ca 125 **** ocean-city@m2.ccsnet.ne.jp 121 **** greg@mad-scientist.com 119 **** stefan@bytereef.org 98 *** eric@trueblade.com 93 *** doko@ubuntu.com 85 *** g.rodola@gmail.com 82 ** barry@python.org 77 ** ncoghlan@gmail.com 47 * amauryfa@gmail.com 36 * daniel@stutzbachenterprises.com 34 * tjreedy@udel.edu 26 * steven.bethard@gmail.com 23 * lukasz@langa.pl 23 * lars@gustaebel.de 23 * collinw@gmail.com 22 * alexandre@peadrop.com 20 * theller@ctypes.org 20 * fdrake@acm.org 19 * jcea@jcea.es 18 * jafo@tummy.com 16 mail@timgolden.me.uk 16 exarkun@divmod.com 15 pjenvey@underboss.org 12 larry@hastings.org 11 brian@sweetapp.com 11 kristjan@ccpgames.com 11 mal@egenix.com 11 gh@ghaering.de 9 jackdied@gmail.com 8 richard@commonground.com.au 7 skip@pobox.com 6 dirkjan@ochtman.nl 6 askh@opera.com 6 jyasskin@gmail.com 5 dmalcolm@redhat.com 4 pje@telecommunity.com 4 asmodai@in-nomine.org 4 arigo@tunes.org 4 jnoller@gmail.com 3 doug.hellmann@gmail.com 3 kbk@shore.net 1 facundobatista@gmail.com 1