Then they would lose 99.875% of their userbase. The support forums would dry up, there would be fewer advocates etc. A Linux distro needs a critical mass of users.
still comes across as a dick move to have people enter the zero. making people feel guilty for an allowed act is just dumb if you are trying to establish a working relationship
I don't think having to type out "0" is that difficult of a choice.
I'm actually totally fine with having to type in zero, noting seems that unreasonable about that to me.. in fact I think there's some value in drawing attention to the fact that open source projects rely on donations.
However I find this whole guilt trip explanation in serious poor taste.