>What is not good, though, is if you, the maintainer, are burned out, or overworked, but stubbornly insist on being a bottleneck in the project under your inept stewardship nevertheless, and just whine and moan about your burnout to get internet points and worldwide pity.
The problem is when there are no other maintainers to the project, and you quite firmly believe the project itself has a future, just that nobody else is able to do so. Yes, you can quit, but if people truly do rely on your project (but nobody is actually willing to take the reigns) then it can become an issue of pride for some. To be clear, I'm not suggesting that people burn themselves out (I myself have gone down that road before), just that "Walk away" isn't always such an easy option for some people.
The problem is when there are no other maintainers to the project, and you quite firmly believe the project itself has a future, just that nobody else is able to do so. Yes, you can quit, but if people truly do rely on your project (but nobody is actually willing to take the reigns) then it can become an issue of pride for some. To be clear, I'm not suggesting that people burn themselves out (I myself have gone down that road before), just that "Walk away" isn't always such an easy option for some people.