[jurialmunkey]

You still miss the distinction - you are arguing about semantics rather than the actual point. No one is telling you that you have to post anything, just that if you do to follow the guidelines. However, you are saying the developers ought to be obligated to post updates. One is a choice that has stipulations, the other is simply forced. The point is to reduce work not add to it.

And its irrelevant anyway as developers do post updates. Sure if a thread has been inactive for more than a month and there has been no word from the developer then a polite question about its status is fine. Its not ok when the thread has active updates or the developer has made a clear statement about its status. I dont see how its difficult to understand that reducing stress on developers who work for free will result in more productive and enthusiastic developers which means better things for everyone. Whats more important - having happy productive developers or the right to demand etas which only really serves to stress out developers when they have been asked for the 100th time and the answer remains the same.