There are open source projects and there are open source projects. I've seen projects where the core developers literally went out on a limb to help not only fellow developers, but users (yes, even n00bs), too. On the other side, I've seen projects that managed to sink to the level of death threats Maemo, for better of worse, is somewhere between the two IMHO. So, there is no universal recipe for open source. The fact that a development approach (within open source) worked for one group does not mean it will work (equally well) for another. It's a very biological thing, it has to find the right mix of people, management and resources for a particular project to function as a whole.