If it's this much trouble getting it working on github, maybe it would be worthwhile to try, say, Canonical's [Launchpad][1]---which uses [Bazaar][2]. Both seem pretty well-documented.
I had a look at the site, and it isn't clear to me that anyone can push to a repository. Anyone can branch someone else's code, but I think you need permission to merge your changes into the main project. Can anyone confirm this?