I'm sure they listen - but the core contributors are also passionate and have a shared vision for the project.

We all have viewpoints. There are many times in my life when I have asked for and accepted feedback, and weighed it and given it a score, then years later realised that I'd interpreted that information through my own prism and lens. I thought I saw it clearly, but in fact I have biases. As we all do. That's normal.

The ancient Greeks saw the sky as "Bronze" coloured, and I doubt I could convince Socrates the sky is "Blue". We are both right, but our definitions are incompatible. Not a problem with describing the sky but sometimes that divergence is a problem.

Now, many of the core contributors are far more patient and calm than I am, but still they have their own view of the world and no matter how open to ideas I simply can't convert them to see things as I do.

To be clear: Both views are subjectively correct.
This is where the frustration kicks in. A difference in worldview leads to a specific outcome for all. If wise and calm Socrates commissions a painting of Athens, what colour should the sky be?

Previously WP was a bit of a scruffy scrapheap from which any enterprising soul could build an manner of things with just a welding torch, duck tape and a personal vision. It was mapped out by intrepid rats: "old cars over here, copper cable over there." It was not a great framework, but it was functioning for the inhabitants.

Now WP is being remade more cleanly, perhaps like Lego. It is far more "modern" it is unified, it is a system.

We can agree to some extent that "Lego is a more accessible building material and system than a scrapheap" but while it provides a lower barrier for constructing some projects, it simultaneously raises the barrier for constructing other projects.

To be specific: If a person is using WP as a Blog System, they will be having a fine time with lovely clean Lego. If however they are using WP as framework for building bespoke CMS sites integrating multiple 3rd party quirky APIs - they will really miss the scrapheap, their welding torch and duck tape.

I think it can be very frustrating when we see the scrapheap being cleared away, and we are offered a set of Lego. It is very difficult to argue for a replacement scrapheap, or to convince a Lego enthusiast of the limits of Lego.

Being told "Make your own Lego Block - it's tricky, but better" can tend to aggravate these builders, no matter how well intentioned the suggestion may be. It illustrates a fork in the road which will only widen if CMS developers aren't given more usable comprehensible replacement tooling, or a more robust path to their own goals.

And now your journey through metaphor land is at an end.