The Linux Maintainers meeting report is even more dispiriting on the slop front than what I'd been hearing.

This catches the flavor of it:

"That said, there was also a general interest in knowing how patches are created. Some would like to see which models were used, or where in the development process they were brought in. Maintainers still want to know IF THERE IS A HUMAN STILL INVOLVED in the development process."

[emphasis mine]

IF there is a human. I'm dumbstruck.