Most pull requests are crap. They are drive-by fixes that do not take maintainability into account, because they only solve the problem that the PR submitter needs solved right now.

Transforming a sloppy drive-by patch into something which doesn't pile on technical debt is hard. For all but the most brilliantly architected projects, it requires someone who can keep the entire project in their head — a core maintainer.

The expectation that unlimited PRs will be reviewed for free is corrosive and contributes to the core-maintainer burnout described in the article.