@Gargron I believe you that it was a far cry from what you intended. ?
The BDFL approach is complicating in these scenarios, because in social settings "benevolence" to one is "hostile" to another.
I think @swetland's point gets to the root of this: https://chaos.social/@swetland/110130547164629389
It's absolutely fine for one person to have a strong view of what "Mastodon, the software" is, but anyone dictating what the Fediverse is anathema to us all. It gets messy when "Mastodon" is used for "the Fediverse."