All of us at WMF care and follow discussions like this, especially clearly laid out and well thought-out analysis like Aryeh's original post. We don't always agree. :-) I know Danese is planning to weigh in, so I won't write too much at this time, but will point to this post from a couple of months ago where I laid out my view on some (not all) of these topics.
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2010-June/059052.html
In general, I think most of us are in favor of more public communications, including public lists, participation in public IRC channels, wikis, etc. I don't agree with unrealistic suggestions (e.g. face-to-face meetings have very real and very serious productivity advantages that we don't want to lose), but we've generally been trending in this direction. Finally, most of these decisions aren't made by "executive fiat" -- Wikimedia is a very collaborative organization, and virtually all the decisions about how/where to communicate and work have been made by the people doing the work.
I would wager a guess that some less constructive individuals on this list and others play a role in what choices people make. :) So, if you're trying to change the dynamics, please call out and help put an end to unconstructive and unprofessional behavior just as much as you ask for public collaboration.