My perspective, as a newcomer to the community (though no stranger to  
programming and Smalltalk), I agree that there are problems. I don't know  
the extent of these problems and I don't know whether the "coup" will  
resolve the issues, but I doubt very much that the new, em, politburo  
thought to themselves, "Hey, I've got lots of free time and I love  
administrative work way more than I like to code, why don't I get together  
with my buddies and invite a bunch of flames by taking over Squeak?"

It seems to me the would-be Squeaders<s> are saying, "Please let us devote  
a whole bunch of personal, unpaid, time to putting some structure into the  
development hierarchy until the Foundation is up-and-running so that  
Squeak doesn't flounder, splinter, and otherwise end up in trouble."

It's not much of a coup, really, since the community could just reject the  
request. (And if I were a Squeader, part of me would be half-hoping for  
such a rejection.)

I know my inclination to contribute has been stifled by a sense of  
uncertainty picked up from this list over the past few months.

If there are others like me (and I suspect there are) this uncertainty is  
tantamount to throwing away resources--not something Squeak can afford.