diff --git a/acct-group/gopherd/metadata.xml b/acct-group/gopherd/metadata.xml
index a3862b8ec2fc1..115e9d64a6695 100644
--- a/acct-group/gopherd/metadata.xml
+++ b/acct-group/gopherd/metadata.xml
@@ -1,8 +1,5 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <!DOCTYPE pkgmetadata SYSTEM "https://www.gentoo.org/dtd/metadata.dtd">
 <pkgmetadata>
-	<maintainer type="person">
-		<email>pinkbyte@gentoo.org</email>
-		<name>Sergey Popov</name>
-	</maintainer>
+	<!-- maintainer-needed -->
 </pkgmetadata>
diff --git a/acct-user/gopherd/metadata.xml b/acct-user/gopherd/metadata.xml
index a3862b8ec2fc1..115e9d64a6695 100644
--- a/acct-user/gopherd/metadata.xml
+++ b/acct-user/gopherd/metadata.xml
@@ -1,8 +1,5 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <!DOCTYPE pkgmetadata SYSTEM "https://www.gentoo.org/dtd/metadata.dtd">
 <pkgmetadata>
-	<maintainer type="person">
-		<email>pinkbyte@gentoo.org</email>
-		<name>Sergey Popov</name>
-	</maintainer>
+	<!-- maintainer-needed -->
 </pkgmetadata>
diff --git a/app-i18n/man-pages-ru/metadata.xml b/app-i18n/man-pages-ru/metadata.xml
index 13f597b1bf7ce..98133e22a0183 100644
--- a/app-i18n/man-pages-ru/metadata.xml
+++ b/app-i18n/man-pages-ru/metadata.xml
@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <!DOCTYPE pkgmetadata SYSTEM "https://www.gentoo.org/dtd/metadata.dtd">
 <pkgmetadata>
-	<maintainer type="person">
-		<email>pinkbyte@gentoo.org</email>
-		<name>Sergey Popov</name>
-	</maintainer>
+	<!-- maintainer-needed -->
 	<stabilize-allarches/>
 	<upstream>
 		<remote-id type="sourceforge">man-pages-ru</remote-id>
diff --git a/app-misc/crunch/metadata.xml b/app-misc/crunch/metadata.xml
index 1450b1e48b8b0..8487af15d204e 100644
--- a/app-misc/crunch/metadata.xml
+++ b/app-misc/crunch/metadata.xml
@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <!DOCTYPE pkgmetadata SYSTEM "https://www.gentoo.org/dtd/metadata.dtd">
 <pkgmetadata>
-	<maintainer type="person">
-		<email>pinkbyte@gentoo.org</email>
-		<name>Sergey Popov</name>
-	</maintainer>
+	<!-- maintainer-needed -->
 	<upstream>
 		<remote-id type="sourceforge">crunch-wordlist</remote-id>
 	</upstream>
diff --git a/app-misc/empty/metadata.xml b/app-misc/empty/metadata.xml
index 409d80e31691d..ded6910acf9ea 100644
--- a/app-misc/empty/metadata.xml
+++ b/app-misc/empty/metadata.xml
@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <!DOCTYPE pkgmetadata SYSTEM "https://www.gentoo.org/dtd/metadata.dtd">
 <pkgmetadata>
-	<maintainer type="person">
-		<email>pinkbyte@gentoo.org</email>
-		<name>Sergey Popov</name>
-	</maintainer>
+	<!-- maintainer-needed -->
 	<upstream>
 		<remote-id type="sourceforge">empty</remote-id>
 	</upstream>
diff --git a/dev-db/sqlcipher/metadata.xml b/dev-db/sqlcipher/metadata.xml
index 62fd827237614..33cedbfbe7823 100644
--- a/dev-db/sqlcipher/metadata.xml
+++ b/dev-db/sqlcipher/metadata.xml
@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <!DOCTYPE pkgmetadata SYSTEM "https://www.gentoo.org/dtd/metadata.dtd">
 <pkgmetadata>
-  <maintainer type="person">
-    <email>pinkbyte@gentoo.org</email>
-    <name>Sergey Popov</name>
-  </maintainer>
+  <!-- maintainer-needed -->
   <upstream>
     <remote-id type="github">sqlcipher/sqlcipher</remote-id>
   </upstream>
diff --git a/dev-libs/xmlrpc-c/metadata.xml b/dev-libs/xmlrpc-c/metadata.xml
index 4fb5b568d943a..4342f0f0cee4a 100644
--- a/dev-libs/xmlrpc-c/metadata.xml
+++ b/dev-libs/xmlrpc-c/metadata.xml
@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <!DOCTYPE pkgmetadata SYSTEM "https://www.gentoo.org/dtd/metadata.dtd">
 <pkgmetadata>
-	<maintainer type="person">
-		<email>pinkbyte@gentoo.org</email>
-		<name>Sergey Popov</name>
-	</maintainer>
+	<!-- maintainer-needed -->
 	<use>
 		<flag name="abyss">Build the Abyss mini web-server.</flag>
 		<flag name="libxml2">Use <pkg>dev-libs/libxml2</pkg> to parse XML instead of the internal expat library.</flag>
diff --git a/dev-util/shc/metadata.xml b/dev-util/shc/metadata.xml
index 1d04d86c73357..575036408efba 100644
--- a/dev-util/shc/metadata.xml
+++ b/dev-util/shc/metadata.xml
@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <!DOCTYPE pkgmetadata SYSTEM "https://www.gentoo.org/dtd/metadata.dtd">
 <pkgmetadata>
-<maintainer type="person">
-	<email>pinkbyte@gentoo.org</email>
-	<name>Sergey Popov</name>
-</maintainer>
+<!-- maintainer-needed -->
 <upstream>
 	<changelog>http://www.datsi.fi.upm.es/~frosal/sources/CHANGES</changelog>
 </upstream>
diff --git a/games-puzzle/color-lines/metadata.xml b/games-puzzle/color-lines/metadata.xml
index cc826efafe7c0..ed0ddbb100558 100644
--- a/games-puzzle/color-lines/metadata.xml
+++ b/games-puzzle/color-lines/metadata.xml
@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <!DOCTYPE pkgmetadata SYSTEM "https://www.gentoo.org/dtd/metadata.dtd">
 <pkgmetadata>
-	<maintainer type="person">
-		<email>pinkbyte@gentoo.org</email>
-		<name>Sergey Popov</name>
-	</maintainer>
+	<!-- maintainer-needed -->
 	<upstream>
 		<remote-id type="github">OpenA/color-lines-sdl</remote-id>
 	</upstream>
diff --git a/games-strategy/seven-kingdoms/metadata.xml b/games-strategy/seven-kingdoms/metadata.xml
index 01aeddfe0f481..039514c161184 100644
--- a/games-strategy/seven-kingdoms/metadata.xml
+++ b/games-strategy/seven-kingdoms/metadata.xml
@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <!DOCTYPE pkgmetadata SYSTEM "https://www.gentoo.org/dtd/metadata.dtd">
 <pkgmetadata>
-	<maintainer type="person">
-		<email>pinkbyte@gentoo.org</email>
-		<name>Sergey Popov</name>
-	</maintainer>
+	<!-- maintainer-needed -->
 	<upstream>
 		<remote-id type="sourceforge">skfans</remote-id>
 		<remote-id type="github">the3dfxdude/7kaa</remote-id>
diff --git a/media-gfx/fbgrab/metadata.xml b/media-gfx/fbgrab/metadata.xml
index 5db01dff17c52..ad9efed26f604 100644
--- a/media-gfx/fbgrab/metadata.xml
+++ b/media-gfx/fbgrab/metadata.xml
@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <!DOCTYPE pkgmetadata SYSTEM "https://www.gentoo.org/dtd/metadata.dtd">
 <pkgmetadata>
-	<maintainer type="person">
-		<email>pinkbyte@gentoo.org</email>
-		<name>Sergey Popov</name>
-	</maintainer>
+	<!-- maintainer-needed -->
 	<upstream>
 		<remote-id type="github">GunnarMonell/fbgrab</remote-id>
 	</upstream>
diff --git a/net-dialup/accel-ppp/metadata.xml b/net-dialup/accel-ppp/metadata.xml
index 1218f07536cb0..3b16196c8a631 100644
--- a/net-dialup/accel-ppp/metadata.xml
+++ b/net-dialup/accel-ppp/metadata.xml
@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <!DOCTYPE pkgmetadata SYSTEM "https://www.gentoo.org/dtd/metadata.dtd">
 <pkgmetadata>
-	<maintainer type="person">
-		<email>pinkbyte@gentoo.org</email>
-		<name>Sergey Popov</name>
-	</maintainer>
+	<!-- maintainer-needed -->
 	<use>
 		<flag name="ipoe">Build IPoE kernel module</flag>
 		<flag name="libtomcrypt">Support crypto algorithms through <pkg>dev-libs/libtomcrypt</pkg> instead of <pkg>dev-libs/openssl</pkg></flag>
diff --git a/net-firewall/ipt_netflow/metadata.xml b/net-firewall/ipt_netflow/metadata.xml
index 1c60427303d3e..2721f41f00bbb 100644
--- a/net-firewall/ipt_netflow/metadata.xml
+++ b/net-firewall/ipt_netflow/metadata.xml
@@ -1,10 +1,6 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <!DOCTYPE pkgmetadata SYSTEM "https://www.gentoo.org/dtd/metadata.dtd">
 <pkgmetadata>
-	<maintainer type="person">
-		<email>pinkbyte@gentoo.org</email>
-		<name>Sergey Popov</name>
-	</maintainer>
 	<maintainer type="project">
 		<email>netmon@gentoo.org</email>
 		<name>Gentoo network monitoring and analysis project</name>
diff --git a/net-misc/geomyidae/metadata.xml b/net-misc/geomyidae/metadata.xml
index a3862b8ec2fc1..115e9d64a6695 100644
--- a/net-misc/geomyidae/metadata.xml
+++ b/net-misc/geomyidae/metadata.xml
@@ -1,8 +1,5 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <!DOCTYPE pkgmetadata SYSTEM "https://www.gentoo.org/dtd/metadata.dtd">
 <pkgmetadata>
-	<maintainer type="person">
-		<email>pinkbyte@gentoo.org</email>
-		<name>Sergey Popov</name>
-	</maintainer>
+	<!-- maintainer-needed -->
 </pkgmetadata>
diff --git a/net-news/canto-curses/metadata.xml b/net-news/canto-curses/metadata.xml
index a4c5ccad7d903..3d3745a6ad201 100644
--- a/net-news/canto-curses/metadata.xml
+++ b/net-news/canto-curses/metadata.xml
@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <!DOCTYPE pkgmetadata SYSTEM "https://www.gentoo.org/dtd/metadata.dtd">
 <pkgmetadata>
-	<maintainer type="person">
-		<email>pinkbyte@gentoo.org</email>
-		<name>Sergey Popov</name>
-	</maintainer>
+	<!-- maintainer-needed -->
 	<upstream>
 		<remote-id type="github">themoken/canto-curses</remote-id>
 	</upstream>
diff --git a/net-news/canto-daemon/metadata.xml b/net-news/canto-daemon/metadata.xml
index f3feb6a4caf45..cc8c19e496917 100644
--- a/net-news/canto-daemon/metadata.xml
+++ b/net-news/canto-daemon/metadata.xml
@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <!DOCTYPE pkgmetadata SYSTEM "https://www.gentoo.org/dtd/metadata.dtd">
 <pkgmetadata>
-	<maintainer type="person">
-		<email>pinkbyte@gentoo.org</email>
-		<name>Sergey Popov</name>
-	</maintainer>
+	<!-- maintainer-needed -->
 	<upstream>
 		<remote-id type="github">themoken/canto-next</remote-id>
 	</upstream>
diff --git a/net-proxy/rejik/metadata.xml b/net-proxy/rejik/metadata.xml
index 03bf78158e702..b065aa0b631ba 100644
--- a/net-proxy/rejik/metadata.xml
+++ b/net-proxy/rejik/metadata.xml
@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <!DOCTYPE pkgmetadata SYSTEM "https://www.gentoo.org/dtd/metadata.dtd">
 <pkgmetadata>
-  <maintainer type="person">
-    <email>pinkbyte@gentoo.org</email>
-    <name>Sergey Popov</name>
-  </maintainer>
+  <!-- maintainer-needed -->
   <use>
     <flag name="banlists">Install upstream provided simple banlists</flag>
   </use>
diff --git a/net-proxy/squidguard/metadata.xml b/net-proxy/squidguard/metadata.xml
index a3862b8ec2fc1..115e9d64a6695 100644
--- a/net-proxy/squidguard/metadata.xml
+++ b/net-proxy/squidguard/metadata.xml
@@ -1,8 +1,5 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <!DOCTYPE pkgmetadata SYSTEM "https://www.gentoo.org/dtd/metadata.dtd">
 <pkgmetadata>
-	<maintainer type="person">
-		<email>pinkbyte@gentoo.org</email>
-		<name>Sergey Popov</name>
-	</maintainer>
+	<!-- maintainer-needed -->
 </pkgmetadata>
diff --git a/net-vpn/pptpd/metadata.xml b/net-vpn/pptpd/metadata.xml
index c0c0f4c92398f..655ccf466886a 100644
--- a/net-vpn/pptpd/metadata.xml
+++ b/net-vpn/pptpd/metadata.xml
@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <!DOCTYPE pkgmetadata SYSTEM "https://www.gentoo.org/dtd/metadata.dtd">
 <pkgmetadata>
-	<maintainer type="person">
-		<email>pinkbyte@gentoo.org</email>
-		<name>Sergey Popov</name>
-	</maintainer>
+	<!-- maintainer-needed -->
 	<use>
 		<flag name="gre-extreme-debug">Log all GRE accepted packets when in
 		debug mode (required if you want upstream support)</flag>
diff --git a/sys-apps/proot/metadata.xml b/sys-apps/proot/metadata.xml
index 9d9660ca36701..5e9633f480fec 100644
--- a/sys-apps/proot/metadata.xml
+++ b/sys-apps/proot/metadata.xml
@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <!DOCTYPE pkgmetadata SYSTEM "https://www.gentoo.org/dtd/metadata.dtd">
 <pkgmetadata>
-	<maintainer type="person">
-		<email>pinkbyte@gentoo.org</email>
-		<name>Sergey Popov</name>
-	</maintainer>
+	<!-- maintainer-needed -->
 	<longdescription lang="en">
 	PRoot is a user-space implementation of chroot, mount --bind, and binfmt_misc.
 	This means that users don't need any privilege or setup to do things like: using an arbitrary directory as the new root filesystem,
diff --git a/sys-fs/mhddfs/metadata.xml b/sys-fs/mhddfs/metadata.xml
index a3862b8ec2fc1..115e9d64a6695 100644
--- a/sys-fs/mhddfs/metadata.xml
+++ b/sys-fs/mhddfs/metadata.xml
@@ -1,8 +1,5 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <!DOCTYPE pkgmetadata SYSTEM "https://www.gentoo.org/dtd/metadata.dtd">
 <pkgmetadata>
-	<maintainer type="person">
-		<email>pinkbyte@gentoo.org</email>
-		<name>Sergey Popov</name>
-	</maintainer>
+	<!-- maintainer-needed -->
 </pkgmetadata>