I think that most newcomers are discouraged by the installation procedure. It's still quite difficult to get a basic Hurd system up and running (network set up).
Maybe if you could tell us all what is difficult, then we couold somehow fix that so it will be easier in the future. Would you like to work on making it easier for new people to install Debian GNU/Hurd? The architecture of the Wiki on hurd.gnufans.org is probably not well adaptated to newbies. Maybe the Wiki should be split between "Anderstanding and using the Hurd" (installation and setup, translator examples, etc ...) and "Developpers" (information about developping the Hurd). I could start those changes if a consensus arises in favor of them. Better to update the project page, since that is the central place for the Hurd project. If there are things releated to Debian GNU/Hurd, then those should be on the Debian GNU/Hurd project page. Cheers
