Yes. That's what the word "operator" means. You need to operate the software that the network depends on, or trust someone who does. You see this a lot of time in the Bitcoin/cryptocurrency community as well, where node operators complain about the changes "forced onto them" by developers. Ultimately, it's a labor problem—if someone else is writing your code for you, and you don't know how to modify it, you're at the mercy of their decisions.