the shitstorms usually have a community behind it. Even if it sucks, it's supported and will be maintained to a point of it "working." If someone writes their own thing, chances are they won't go the extra mile and build a community for it. Then, when it comes to maintaining it later, it might grow untenable, especially if the original "tinkerer" has moved on.
This would be great if things like open source were more supported in the "real" world. Unfortunately, you're describing exactly why a community means nothing in this situation unless the community is giving back to the project. When the "original tinkerer" moves on, everything depending on that project breaks when everything else changes around it.
