> I suspect the ‘legal’ claims being made aren’t that solid either
Section 7 of the GPL specifically says that additional restrictive terms on GPL software (like “pay me $1000 or cite me”) can be ignored or removed. If the software’s author doesn’t want people to remove his additional terms he shouldn’t have used the GPL. Publicly shaming other open source contributions for doing something that the GPL explicitly and deliberately permits (removing additional restrictive terms) is extremely improper in my opinion.
Section 7 of the GPL specifically says that additional restrictive terms on GPL software (like “pay me $1000 or cite me”) can be ignored or removed. If the software’s author doesn’t want people to remove his additional terms he shouldn’t have used the GPL. Publicly shaming other open source contributions for doing something that the GPL explicitly and deliberately permits (removing additional restrictive terms) is extremely improper in my opinion.