In context, the pending release is a near-complete rewrite that has been in progress for over a year now, and shows few signs of actually being completed. If it does get released, it will likely be an enormous effort to transition from one version to the other.

Like I said, it is absolutely okay for the project maintainers to maintain their project however they like, and if they don't want to maintain two separate bug fixes, that's fair enough. My point was more about the way their communication makes me feel less comfortable and and to contribute back to the project.