Post History

"Demanding features" falls under an umbrella called "design". Design work doesn't show up directly in the commits (unless you maintain a design doc) but it is work nonetheless. Suggesting features is volunteer design work. 

In principle, the maintainer should welcome such work just as they would welcome code contributions, but there are many reasons why they might not. Code contributions aren't always welcomed either, quality matters to some. Moreover, it is silly to spend a bunch of time implementing a feature when the maintainer will ignore or reject your PR - it makes sense to discuss the planned addition first.

Some developers just want to "put their code out there", on public display as it were, without much concern for who uses it. It is evident that for these it would be silly to demand features.

Other developers are motivated in some part by users. They want people to use their software a lot, from which they may derive a personal feeling of accomplishment, professional fame, future income material, volunteer beta testers, volunteer collaborators or something else. This makes the exchange transactional even though no actual money is changing hands. Thus in exchange for *using* the software the user does get to demand things (small though they may be), because usage has a cost, and the developer derives a benefit from it. Features requests are a great way to handle this exchange - they help not only the user, but the developer, by making the program more appealing to users and growing the userbase.

Unfortunately some developers do not see it this way and assume that since they are giving something away for "free", the user has no right to complain or demand anything. Sometimes their programs become popular in spite of their attitude and they are able to tyrannize the users with abandon. Often, they wonder why nobody wants to use it and become frustrated. Some bemoan the lack of contributors, but of course contributors often come from happy users. In any case, the negative feedback loop is quite wide and because of this such developers rarely seem to think, "Maybe I would have more users if I was nicer to them?". They instead seem to prefer writing blogs about how open source is unpaid labor and sucks.

I think logically, there is nothing inappropriate about suggesting features in a reasonably polite tone. The exchange from developer to user is obviously not so one-sided as some claim. However, many developers have different opinions and in practice you will always have to see if the person is open to suggestions or not. And if the latter, though you are right to suggest features, the realities of the matter will preclude exercising that right successfully.