Unlike OP, I don't think forks are great. Far too many forks happen when they shouldn't. In this case, it feels like the original project was hijacked just because it lacked a feature this person wanted.

Many forks can confuse the market and fracture adoption. A dozen different projects, each with slightly different features, is harmful in my opinion. A fork should be done as a last resort. With AI, it may become just another knee jerk reaction.