An overabundance of modules with overlapping functionalities is not a CVS problem, it's a module/project parsing and rating problem, something that DrupalModules.com helps address and what the D.o redesign is also intended to address.
A friendly policy would be to first make it easy peasy to get people involved and excited about contributing their own itch they scratched, and then get them involved in collaborations and consolidations. After all, much of what ends up being overlapping functionality is because the developer had a project that needed X and did not have the time or resources to try to get Y to change to solve his/her use case. I feel we should let that developer serve his/her client and contribute what was done, and let improvements and consolidations happen within the community.
I disagree. - We want healthy stuff in contrib, because everything else is cruft. - We want working stuff in contrib, because users already have very hard times to find proper, working stuff. - We want to encourage people to join forces with others, because that is what the overall success of the Drupal community and the Drupal product boils down to. sun