> That's the big advantage of CPAN. CPAN is the de facto owner of the modules in CPAN, and those modules can be maintained.

This is just false. The CPAN maintainers (really PAUSE maintainers) can transfer ownership of modules away from totally AWOL owners, but it's not like this happens all the time.

There's plenty of bitrot on CPAN because the original owner went AWOL and no one else has been motivated enough to ask to take the module over. There is no "CPAN group" who maintains modules.