I'll be honest I'm very unsure what to make of it all at this point.

What's concerning to me, as @optimism alluded to already (#966683), is that some feel as though the Bitcoin Core repo is theirs, a perspective that gets dignified when voices (not so-called 'brigaders', but people with proven clout in the bitcoin space) are being effectively censored in discussions.

Feels a little antithetical to foss to me.