First of all, let me acknowledge the fact that his is *your software*, *your forum* and *your show* in general. I can only provide input based on my own views, knowledge and values and hope to invoke reflection on part of those who might read this.
I'll have to agree with "wiglemap" on this. What we have seen over the last eight years is the rise of "smart phones" in the hands of "dumb users". I retain enough esteem for humanity in general that I hold the view that if people really knew what is going on inside their phones and how their privacy is infringed upon on a massive scale, they will reconsider their choices and activities. Unfortunately, the vast majority of humanity will never know how the sausages are made and for all they know their phones operate by small gnomes turning wheels, etc, etc.
The Google Play store is full of malware-laden software, Android is handing Google vast swaths of information on its users, apps include tracking APIs and phone home with all kind of information which is then sold to whomever will pay. The aggregate of all this might end up as what I can only describe as a scary future.
What F-Droid is trying to do is provide an alternative to the Play Store, containing only reproducible builds of "FOSSoftware". That way we know how the sausages are made, as it were. Now, sticking to F-Droid on stock Android would be pointless, fortunately there are lots of AOSP-based custom ROMs/"shizzle", I'll namedrop CyanogenMod, being the most widely used.
Smart/sufficiently cynical/skeptical-minded users would never use stock/"skinned" Android (nor iOS, being a closed system). They will use an open, custom ROM (firmware blobs, I know) and a firewall which will limit any system component and/or app from phoning home as well as restrict what information any given app has access to. They will also stick to F-Droid for apps, being the standard-bearer and all. Being called a "zealot" will be taken as a badge of honor by such users, often the same people who use Debian for the very same reasons. We will never let the WiGLE app phone home, we will export to CSV, perform a manual upload and for private use run the KML through our favorite OpenStreetMap viewer/app. These are users contributing to your software, your show, mind you.
If the current mapping features of WiGLE.apk require "Play Services" then that is simply how it is and not up to me. I humbly propose that you make available a "WiGLE Lite.apk" and just cut the "live map"-feature entirely. "OpenWLANMap" did exactly this with their "Mini" version:
https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/? ... .vwp.owmap
https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/? ... vwp.owmini
The WiGLE app has been downloaded thousands of times from F-Droid, I for one hope to be able to continue using it.