[MattGrommes]

The comment I read about this that I liked was that they want to push the idea of starting with an Issue and a discussion before going straight to a PR. That way you can build reputation by contributing to a discussion first. Maybe you could "earn" a temporary Vouch like this that lets you start submitting. Still open to attack but the attack is at least more difficult.

[judahmeek]

Agreed. The obvious solution is to lower the barrier of entry for demonstrating good intent, but also lowering the ceiling of effort required to analyze that demonstration for good intent.

Mandating participation in discussion prior to creating any PR sounds like a perfectly reasonable requirement.