I actually have two questions (and one is not exactly a question)
First is, is Tails entirely free software? Some distros use proprietary software, but in tails situation, not being able to not see the code is very bad security-wise. So is tails entirely free software and in that case why is it not listed as such on the free distros of the GNU project? Or does tails have proprietary firmware code which prevents this?
The second is if the tails developers are aware of the Award for Projects of Social Benefit by the FSF.
See https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/nominate-your-free-software-heroes
Quoting: "Award for Projects of Social Benefit
Nominations are also open for the 2012 Award for Projects of Social Benefit.
This award is presented to the project or team responsible for applying free software, or the ideas of the free software movement, in a project that intentionally and significantly benefits society in other aspects of life.
We look to recognize projects or teams that encourage collaboration to accomplish social tasks. A long-term commitment to one's project (or the potential for a long-term commitment) is crucial to this end.
This award stresses the use of free software in the service of humanity. We have deliberately chosen this broad criterion so that many different areas of activity can be considered. However, one area that is not included is that of free software itself. Projects with a primary goal of promoting or advancing free software are not eligible for this award (we honor those projects with our annual Award for the Advancement of Free Software).
We will consider any project or team that uses free software or its philosophy to address a goal important to society. To qualify, a project must use free software, produce free documentation, or use the idea of free software as defined in the Free Software Definition. Work done commercially is eligible, but we will give this award to the project or team that best utilizes resources for society's greater benefit."
I would think tails can apply for this. In fact Tor has won this award in the past. Tails, by making Tor (and other anon software) usable for the masses is doing something laudable and could very well win. Is Tails considering applying?
hypothesys
Tails does ship with proprietary firmwares. Otherwise most users would not be able to use their Wi-Fi devices. In doubts, they can be removed in custom builds by removing the relevant Debian packages.
That's probably what we thought Tails will be when the project started. Three years later, you can just see by yourself through a look to at least the development mailing-list archives, the history of the various Git repositories, the user documentation and the amount of tests that are manually done for each release.
Also, it does not seem you realize the amount of support that is required by a user oriented project like Tails. We have a pretty good commitment to answer every single request that we receive...
If this is really bothering you, please send a patch. Then we will discuss about it. I'd also like to remind that the forum page explicitly state: The forum is open for discussions about Tails that do not belong to bugs, feature requests and the like.
Once again, looking at the development mailing-list archives should give you an idea.
Do you really want to ask every contributors of free software projects their motivations? We have written a pretty long statement regarding trust...