If a company using my project want to interact they can do that by using the bug tracker if they want, right ? What would be the maintainer interest in taking the time to gather feedback from users unwilling to take the time to open an issue ? (Instead of fixing something from the backlog of the bug tracker directly)
You can do much more than just gather feedback from companies relying on your project! You can convince them to sponsor you, you can broker a support contract with them, consult, etc. If maintainers can more proactive, they will be more successful, regardless of what their goals are.
If a company using my project want to interact they can do that by using the bug tracker if they want, right ? What would be the maintainer interest in taking the time to gather feedback from users unwilling to take the time to open an issue ? (Instead of fixing something from the backlog of the bug tracker directly)
You can do much more than just gather feedback from companies relying on your project! You can convince them to sponsor you, you can broker a support contract with them, consult, etc. If maintainers can more proactive, they will be more successful, regardless of what their goals are.
Ok, it make sense. Probably something I will not / can't do because I'm a really bad salesman.