I’m sure people here can empathize with having all the tech wizards get burnt out and leave, and all the various teething problems but this is a bit much… lemmy has its issues but plenty of sites larger and smaller than beehaw are getting on just fine. Perhaps the lib sysadmins are just going back to brunch?
In short, they are uncomfortable collaborating with communists on the technical end and lack the expertise / willpower to maintain a fork independently. It is kind of a skill issue, but there is no need to over-glorify the code-monkeys either. A community of 700+ people certainly has people among its ranks with the skills to do this work. What it lacks is the motivation. Nobody sees it as a calling. Nobody sees it as urgent or necessary work.