I think they should have a VIP program akin like WordPress. I think every serious Open Source project should have some kind of separated channel for Corporate/BigInstalls.
I would not entirely place the blame on PowerDNS here, it also points out that how our Corporate citizens can do better for the eco-system by being active partners with the Open Source projects they rely on, instead of hide and snipe mailing-listers.
Another reason why employees at big corporations are loath to contact
open source projects is that they assume they won’t get help, and need
to pay for support. And, while it is true that someone needs to pay the
bills here, we realise that for many users, a support agreement is just
not going to happen. Corporate IT might not even know the whole company
is relying on an open source project. Questions might be asked. For such
organisations, we are fine with providing free help on the public mailing
lists. But to give proper weight and context to your issue, it helps if
we know who you are.
I think corporate owners are in the best position to offer money for services. They are usually looking specifically for some sort of support contract they can pay for! (If Corporate IT doesn't know, that company has bigger problems anyway.) Something like a VIP program would be a great way to get these types of users in the door. Feed all that money back into your open source project - if you're big enough you probably have project support costs anyway (hosting, etc).
I agree with your second point as well, and I think it reinforces my point, because you can take those internal people that you are dedicating to the task and make them the active partners to the open source project.
I would not entirely place the blame on PowerDNS here, it also points out that how our Corporate citizens can do better for the eco-system by being active partners with the Open Source projects they rely on, instead of hide and snipe mailing-listers.