In reply to Christopher Price.

The plugin directory is managed by volunteers, most of whom are not paid directly by Automattic or the WordPress Foundation for their efforts. There are a few Audrey Human Capital employees such as Otto and Scott Reilly (coffee2code) who work on WordPress.org stuff which includes the plugin directory. The directory redesign is being directed by Konstantin Obenland who is an Automattic employee.

What do you mean when you say Automattic steers it?

This conversation is an aside to the issue at hand which I believe Automattic has nothing to do with.