I guess that's sort of the disconnect for me. I'm imagining a world where the maintainer, instead of using AI and signing the commits off that they did, that instead they were putting a Nazi slogan in every commit message. My opinion would be different. I wouldn't have this middle of the road sort of "maybe you should try to actually get them to change what they're doing instead of shaming them." Hell, if that were the case I'd probably join in too, or at least throw a thumbs down on their defense of themselves. And I'm not trying to compare AI usage to genocide or say that folks view them as equivalent, I'm just saying that there are topics where I do think going fully on the offensive are warranted.

Maybe I really should self reflect on that, because I am a firm believer that protests aren't meant to be comfortable. Maybe me saying "they shouldn't insult a volunteer on an issue tracker" is the same as people complaining about "politics in football" by saying Kaepernick shouldn't have been taking a knee during the national anthem, in some ways.