People have to understand that the Node.js ecosystem is different than in other programming languages/platforms. Modules are composed from smaller modules with a granularity so small that it is almost unique. When you're publicly publishing something low-level to npm you really should understand that the community may build on top of it to the point where it is used by many modules and as a result used by many end-users. You are not obligated to maintain it, but it's not really fair to be totally careless either. The community is like society, if you're in it, try to be a good citizen or the community will move against you to preserve it's ideals.