[nothacker]

This all sounds very Hatfield/McCoy to me. Whether or not libav is a PITA/POS, I don't know, but of the two, I had only heard of and used ffmpeg until now. That said, I really don't give a crap how either of them operate, and neither should anyone else but the maintainers. This reminds me so much of the volunteer work that happens at our school. So many personalities involved and people get so upset because they've poured their heart and soul into it. You don't find that as often on the business/corporate side of things. Even though real money is on the line there, it is just a job. I think the same thing applies here. These people are getting so upset, but I doubt they realize that 95-98% of users don't give a crap. We are just glad that you are providing great libraries and utilities. So... take a chill pill and get over it. And thanks for your work.

[keithpeter]

"This reminds me so much of the volunteer work that happens at our school. So many personalities involved and people get so upset because they've poured their heart and soul into it."

Its the 'meaning' thing that makes your volunteers give up their own time and do free work. Open source projects will probably have similar loyalty/emotional investments.