This is at least the 3rd blackout being planned en masse, and while I hate being pessimistic: I don't think much will be done here if history serves. Most people will stay and be unaware, some (maybe many) contributors will leave, we will probably get one or two winds on some alternatives that then get overrun by unsavory folk that makes it unwelcoming to anyone who cares about their personal reputation, and the dust settles with not much change overall.

But yea, that's why I never did any real "passion work" up to this point, even if I've been interested. If I'm going out of my way for that, it has to at the bare minimum be portfolio work for a job, or to garner community reputation to leverage for a future project that is paid.

It's a cynical way to look at what should just be done for the sake of others. Some would call it "clout chasing" and they aren't entirely wrong (not entirely right either, but there's similarities). But you always gotta look out for yourself first. From my decades here, the Internet sure won't. Quite the contrary; it's extraordinary how quickly communities can turn on something if you brush it the wrong way.