This is an excellent write-up explaining the situation and i think it should in fact replace the "Can I get the PerlMonks source code?" node in its entirety, not only because its content is much more clear, but also because it approaches the question with a lot more respect.

Something I'm curious about though is: How is the social situation regarding this? Putting the technical reasons aside, is there resistance from the gods or pmdevs towards moving the code into a direction that would make opening it more easy? Or would they welcome such efforts?

I'm sure there is a number of people (including me) that would happily contribute to such a movement. However with the current communication regarding the issue it seems to me as if such efforts would not be welcomed and only be a waste of time. (Leaving aside the whole issue of being unable to look at the source and ascertain whether my skill level is up to it before committing to a join request and wasting someone else's as well as my time in going through the motions there.)