I am certain you've won the award for being the longest reply I've ever received! 😲
And a thoroughly enjoyable read it was. On the whole I can't say I disagree with it, although some of the historical details are outside of my wheelhouse.
I do think forges *could* do more to aid in the administration of governance models. And even now, there are differences. For example, Gitea/Forgejo have a branch protection option that disallows modifying certain key files, while GH does not.