Recognition of individual contributions is a core component to why Open Source even works in the first place. It would not work if an abstract, utopian ideal of

Recognition of individual contributions is a core component to why Open Source even works in the first place. It would not work if an abstract, utopian ideal of "improving the codebase" was the primary driver. A bug fix contribution may be borne out of necessity, but ultimately codebase improvements are a side effect of the social phenomenon of people being highly motivated to be recognized by their peers. Notoriety is the currency of open source software. And that's a feature, not a bug.