The developer of this project makes being a jerk to everyone who talks to him his personal mission. People asking for support are insulted on his forum... pretty routinely.

I use a fork of TTRSS daily, it's good software, but I strongly discourage anyone ever talk to upstream.

Appreciation isn’t the certain source of joy for hobby projects that most users think it ought to be. If you’re intrinsically motivated enough to create something like this, then you’re intrinsically bored by it, too. Appreciation does not necessarily have any bearing on that, no matter that your users hope otherwise, especially in fields like tech where neurodivergence is a local norm. May their departure serve as a beacon for others to leave behind the unrewarding.