I’ve done dozens of what might be considered “drive by PRs” over the decades (hardly a regular). It’s attaching a patch to an email after finding the correct list (that might be the hardest part). It’s hard to accept the process itself is much more onerous than a forge. Regardless of venue, in every high profile project there are particular idioms and procedures that must be learned and followed. Few outside of side projects truly want totally "drive-by" contributions with no regards to the project standards, even if they're hosted on github. On the other hand the lk process might be less marketed - but there have been sites like kernelnewbies for decades as well.

Where the process really looks different to me is for large, extensive work, not the drive bys. Whether it should change is another debate, but I think the intentionality of gatekeeping narrative via process is oversold.