I think the simple version is that too many people don't understand how Open-Source works and that they have no right to tell a maintainer what he has to do. I

I think the simple version is that too many people don't understand how Open-Source works and that they have no right to tell a maintainer what he has to do. If you are unhappy with the direction an Open-Source project is going, you can do two things: 1. Tell, in a civilized manner! 2. Fork, if you are willing to spend the resources to maintain such a project yourself If you are unable to formulate your critique in a neutral way, then keep it to yourself (aka STFU). If a maintainer decides he doesn't want to follow your suggestions, you should be nice and stop. After all, you still have option two. And if you are unwilling to spend the resources to maintain a fork, how dare you to tell someone who invests his time and shares his results, what he has to do.