Public criticism of Dunc-Tank's rationale began the same day that the group was announced. In a blog entry that was widely distributed to a number of discussion groups, Debian developer Lucas Nussbaum cites research by Luis Villa of GNOME that suggests that “sometimes, paying volunteers decreases the overall participation” in projects.

Debian Project Leader (DPL) Anthony Towns may face a recall vote over his involvement with Dunc-Tank, a non-official group that proposes to collect donations to pay Debian release managers to ensure that Debian etch is in early December as scheduled.

The resolution, and its legality under Debian's Constitution, were still being debated while this article was written, but, if successful, it could very well put obstacles in the way of the next release that are far more insurmountable than the number of outstanding critical bugs.