First off: I don't agree that there's a social contract here at all. That's just some imaginary thing that you (and others) have decided exists. It's funny how lots of people who aren't open source maintainers seem to think it's ok to make up social contracts for other people without their consent.
But ok, let's just pretend for a second that maintainers have indeed entered into some sort of social contract that gives them an obligation to support their software, uncompensated. But if we have this contract, then it cuts both ways. The users then have entered into a social contract of their own: they agree to treat me with respect when they deal with me, to not act entitled, to not demand things of me, to not be rude, and to do their part in being a helpful, productive partner in helping to solve any issues they report.
If a user breaks their part of the contract, then I have no obligation to fulfill my side of it.
It's a bit bizarre to me that non-maintainers have decided to invent some sort of "social contract" that benefits them (while putting a sizeable burden on maintainers), but seem to think that they aren't entering into a social contract of their own when they decide to use the software. (And that there are consequences for not upholding the user side of the social contract.)
Put another way: in contract law (in the US, at least), there's the concept of "consideration". It's the idea that both parties are getting something out of a deal. Some of that can be monetary, but it can also be other things. If a contract is one sided, that is, if one party isn't getting any consideration, then the contract can often be unenforceable.
That seems to be what people like you are doing here: requiring that open source maintainers enter into a social contract, but not give them any consideration in return for it. (And no, some sort of ill-defined concepts like "reputation" or "large user base" don't pass my threshold for meaningful consideration.)
That's one more thing, even: contracts are voluntary. All involved parties must agree for there to be a contract. I don't agree to your bullshit contract of one-sided obligation, so there is no contract.
This. Best writeup I've seen on the topic of entitled/abusive users. You should publish this as a blog post or launch some sort of campaign or something, something people can refer to. I haven't encountered entitled users myself, but my gawd, I'm so annoyed at users who feel entitled to other open source maintainers. I'm raging with a drive to protest against people who treat the rsync maintainer with such disrespect.
But ok, let's just pretend for a second that maintainers have indeed entered into some sort of social contract that gives them an obligation to support their software, uncompensated. But if we have this contract, then it cuts both ways. The users then have entered into a social contract of their own: they agree to treat me with respect when they deal with me, to not act entitled, to not demand things of me, to not be rude, and to do their part in being a helpful, productive partner in helping to solve any issues they report.
If a user breaks their part of the contract, then I have no obligation to fulfill my side of it.
It's a bit bizarre to me that non-maintainers have decided to invent some sort of "social contract" that benefits them (while putting a sizeable burden on maintainers), but seem to think that they aren't entering into a social contract of their own when they decide to use the software. (And that there are consequences for not upholding the user side of the social contract.)
Put another way: in contract law (in the US, at least), there's the concept of "consideration". It's the idea that both parties are getting something out of a deal. Some of that can be monetary, but it can also be other things. If a contract is one sided, that is, if one party isn't getting any consideration, then the contract can often be unenforceable.
That seems to be what people like you are doing here: requiring that open source maintainers enter into a social contract, but not give them any consideration in return for it. (And no, some sort of ill-defined concepts like "reputation" or "large user base" don't pass my threshold for meaningful consideration.)
That's one more thing, even: contracts are voluntary. All involved parties must agree for there to be a contract. I don't agree to your bullshit contract of one-sided obligation, so there is no contract.