aren't software authors misestimated?

[Michele Alessandrini <m.alessandrini@ea.univpm.it>]

Hi, I'm a happy debian user, I really estimate the huge work behind such a 
magnificent project. I'd like to express a little doubt about policy (very 
humble opinion): it seems like programs authors are considered like 
"marginal" contributors. Dselect description doesn't even report their info 
or url, and in debian policy they are called, 2 or 3 times, "upstream 
authors", like if maintainers (largely mentioned) were the "main" authors.
What about giving them more "dignity"? Which are the rapports between a 
maintainer and the author, for example when deciding how to change the 
software to conform to Debian system?
Thank you for your attention.
Michele Alessandrini, Italy