Something Quim said in the "Nokia complaint" thread about addressing the right channels really hardened this for me:

It is increasingly important for the community to have a deep, clear channel into Nokia. IMO that should be handled by the Community Council. But even though Quim and others have been great at facilitating where they can, it still feels ad hoc, as if Nokia executive management doesn't yet buy into Maemo/MeeGo and is still erecting firewalls that we the council can't breach.

I have lobbied for periodic Nokia/council get-togethers managed and funded by Nokia. I think such sessions are extremely important but so far no movement on such a thing. It's going to be even more important for MeeGo although more complicated due to the structure.

Regardless, it's past due time for Nokia to construct that channel. It's past due time for community outreach to ramp up in the company. I even positioned myself as a candidate to help in my region but I was told that such a thing would not happen until the need was determined. Sorry, that doesn't fly: you CULTIVATE the "need". If you build it they will come-- but they won't come if you don't build. And Nokia isn't building big and fast enough.

So maybe it's time for me to dust off that topic again and hit it hard...