When TShock started, @hakusaro gave write access to the repository to anyone who contributed positively to TShock on their first pull request. We didn't filter people based on any formal application or anything -- in fact, the original ambition was inherently trusting. We trust our leaders just like we trusted people when they were added on the first pull request.
If a fellow leader makes a decision, we can reasonably assume they did so in good faith. If a group of leaders make a decision in consensus, we can assume that group did so in good faith.
Even when we've had drama in the community, we've never had a leader "go rogue" and act in self interest. We've never had a trust ending event, and we'd like to keep it that way. To keep it that way, just make sure that you understand that we're a small collective of quasi-independent open source developers. Some of us have a lot of free time, and some have very little. Some are active in Discord daily, while some are busy with life. That's okay. Just make sure that you trust your fellow leaders to take the reigns if you aren't around.
We tend to err on the side of having multiple sources of recovery if a single person goes absent. We try to distribute power to people and add resiliency, which, by extension, means people need to be trusting of one another with decentralized power. While everyone has write access to TShock, for example, we expect that power to not be used unless in an emergency or in a special circumstance. We trust you to not blow away our hard work.