What’s really sad about this (and other open source devs with pressure from users) is the lack of support _from the users_.
Open source should be about being able to dive in and add the wishlist item you have. A lot of people put up this wall that only changes can be made by the author, proliferating this onslaught of requests from the user and in the end burning out the author.
If you manage an open source project, you owe it to yourself to make it clear how other devs can contribute and add features they want to see. Don’t be the choke point. Open it up. That’s the whole point. Make it clear how a user can add to the codebase and encourage them to do so.
I was surprised that nobody mentioned the Collective Code Construction Contract of zeromq/Pieter Hintjens [1]. It tries to minimise the friction created by maintaining & contributing to open source projects.
It is not perfect of course, but at least it is a good start. Especially the "value-" & opinion-based discussions can be reduced considerably.
If you manage an open source project, you owe it to yourself to make it clear how other devs can contribute and add features they want to see. Don’t be the choke point. Open it up. That’s the whole point. Make it clear how a user can add to the codebase and encourage them to do so.