Sure the legalese states I owe nothing, but if I’ve shared the code, written some documentation, and encouraged others to use it as I have on a few projects…
… I feel as though I do owe something. I feel like I’ve made a sort of social contract to provide a bit of support on what I’ve, er, “supplied”.
Not really sure why.
I believe that maintainer by participating in FOSS getting followers/contributors owes to the community good stewardship so maintenance and at least keeping security fixes and nasty bugs prioritized.
If someone doesn't want the burden then no need to publish stuff or publish it and actively discourage the use, but usually people publish and try to build a community, but when one has built a community, it comes with responsibilities as well.
With software I actually understand it less. I don't do "cargo add" and then think "just imagine how good chapter 2 will be!"
So I think the analogy is good, but I disagree that the creator ever owes anything to ones benefitting from their initial work.
Objectively, yes, it's entitlement. All you can really do is avoid pop culture entirely and not start a series until the author is done writing, I guess
Seems to me like the main -- or only -- thing you need to fix are your feelings.