You're absolutely right that it's totally up to him and he can act the way he likes, but I think the point of the article is that if you're claiming that open-source is a "community" endeavour, then perhaps being a giant asshole isn't the best means of accomplishing that end. He is discouraging potential developers from wanting to work with him for exactly the reasons you mentioned: it's not a job, there is no pay, he's not your boss. The last thing I want when volunteering my free time is some guy belittling me. As has been mentioned in this thread, there are ways of accomplishing the same task while being a reasonable human being. His ego and entitlement are justifying his behaviour and it's bullshit.