I think that's trying to solve the wrong problem. The problem is that the closed, unbrowsable site makes it impossible for us visitors to tell whether it has any relevance to us at all, so we bounce right away. The front page has only very vague, general information and an unreadably small screenshot, instead of the actual projects and people which would solve the problem completely.

I think what the front page needs instead of what it has (or as well but right up the top) is a list of active, interesting projects like you posted here, and a link to browse all public projects.