You wrote a nice parable male. And it shows your position well and I fully (that's not possible I guess) acknowledge your position and also the fact that FLOSS linuxaudio users (I count myself as one of them) can be very hard to deal with.
Do realize though, that a same sort of parable could be written from the perspective of a FLOSS linuxaudio user. The enormous amount of time spent on something that doesn't work at the end. Dealing with hard to understand developers with their own strange twists and turns. Trying to help improve the situation, by reporting issues, showing where you bump against things etc. etc. Trying to get developers work together to help the linuxaudio ecosystem as a whole. Writing out tutorials to help new users avoiding to hit the wall the same place you did. I think the FLOSS linuxaudio environment is a very complex system. Technically, it's hard to get all the loose ends together (if one accomplished something that works, it is you, granted), but also especially socially. Lot's of different people, different native languages, different needs, different perspectives, different philosophies, different amount of time etc etc. Long story short, this is a unavoidable consequence of the freedom there is in this FLOSS linuxaudio ecosystem. There is no boss who tells us which direction we should go or which rules to follow. It's the freedom we choose for, but it has unavoidable consequences we should acknowledge and we should defend ourselves against, as developer and as user. When you release software and especially good software like NON-Daw, you can wait for people who want to improve it further, who needs more features, who dreams of what the software can grow into. It's a law in nature I would say. As a developer you've to realize this and (learn to) protect yourself against it where needed in the best possible way. Sure, there is always some sort of reciprocal benefit for users to do so, but lot's of people do it with good intentions too, because they like the project, the end-result or just the technique and craftsmanship behind it. Reporting issues, isn't always about people who wants more meat, you can also see it as a compliment for the software, as something positive. Also it has to do with the nature of the software I think. A musical tool can be important. A piano which isn't tuned perfectly is for lots of pianists a hell. So demands are probably (unreasonable!) high, for this kind of software, especially when the software is free. So I think it's indeed a good idea to write down your philosophy and 'guide lines' clearly somewhere on your website. (I think you should add links to Renoise and Bitwig on your website, maybe they want to sponsor it ;) ) You write elsewhere that there is no legitimate cause for the fork. Technically that might be right, but I don't think you communicated it the way as you do it now. I think actually that there are justifications to name for the fork. Not for the way it has been done, no question, but if you would have communicated it better and acted a bit more tactfully now and then, it could have been avoided probably. You've asked something from people in terms of patience and tolerance when it comes to the ways of communication, that's also good to realize. Another thing which could have been done maybe, it to give the people who wanted a different GUI more space and more guidance (telling them earlier and more clearly to write a GUI API) then you gave them. It might have been in your own benefit as well, you can point people with feature requests to a other GUI. This is not a reproach and a fork may have happened anyway at some point in time, but something that is fair to point out I think. Same it true for myself probably, I've always tried to defend the principles of NON as I believe in them, but it might have worked contra-productive is some occasions. This whole complex and time-consuming environment makes emotions go high, quite often. I experience it myself. This whole thing can be really frustrating and time-wasting. The trick is to realize it and find a way to deal with it. As we have to deal with the fact that free software can be forked I guess. That's a consequence of the freedom we want apparently, how unfair it may feel and is. Actually I want to stay away from these discussions, stop looking back and just look forward. But I felt it would be good and fair to give also a little insight from the perspective of a user.
