Asklemmy

If you are dissatisfied with the free thing I gave you, then I am happy to send you a refund of your purchase price. 🤷‍♂️

That's my preferred strategy.

UPDATE: Before any angry cards and letters, let me clarify. When I reply this way, I learn a lot about the person I'm talking to, including whether they are prepared to have a reasonable conversation about this complex matter. The response I'm hoping for is "Well played.", because that tells me that they recognize how ridiculous we are both being. I can work with them.

If they are merely having a tough time and needed to vent, then they'll notice that and we can move forward.

If they are truly that entitled, then I don't mind what happens next, because they would probably never have accepted any help I could offer them, anyway.

Not only is it normalized, but it's being weaponized. See, for example, the recent XZ backdoor which was equal parts hacking and a psi-op against the maintainer.

It was always normalized, but recently there seems to be more backlash from maintainers.

This has to be a troll. They use Tails and do not know how to format an USB drive?

I am indeed seeing this with increasing frequency. Just take a look at threads about the Lemmy devs for examples. An increasing number of people seem to feel entitled to be treated not just like customers but as also as stakeholders/PMs for software that was gifted to the community.

As for how to try to change this direction, I think ELI5 on what FLOSS is and how it is governed, as well as how to be a good member of the community, whether as a contributor or otherwise, is probably the way to go.

I don't think I'd ever complain directly to the maintainer. I often do find instructions that are essentially The Rest of the Fucking Owl but you go to the community for help and then give up when 90% of them act like you are an idiot for even asking.

Who is this little shit who can't Google how to format a USB drive securely? If dd isn't enough, there's plenty of methods documented online.

Fuck such people. Off to the maintainers blacklist they should go

I think the proper response is to simply ignore someone that ignorant