Arch is an amazing distro and every one of my experiences with the community have so far been positive. Kind of a bummer to see people dumping on it in the mailing lists and LWN.
This happens from time to time in OSS projects. Some users kick up a big stink. Often times their issues get fixed.<p>However, it's a shit way to do it and tramples on a lot of people... and in the mid to long run can damage a project greatly.<p>A more constructive way for a user to get a feature in is to either pay for it, or code it. Setting up a 'bounty', or helping to get funding is a better way to try and get these novel writers to help with the project.<p>Get these passionate writers working for the project by directing their energies towards getting funding. Telling them to shut up and submit a patch won't work... since they are not capable of writing code sometimes. However they do care greatly about the issue, and have time to send off emails and write blog posts.