It also just isn't something I want to impose on downstream developers--I want people to use my code, and if they make some money, good for them. Unfortunately there's a class of entitled moralists who think this is the wrong attitude for me to have, and that I should only distribute code if I pledge to enforce their idea of "freedom" regarding its use.
I think that's a bit harsh. If you think the opposite - that MIT/BSD licenses should be preferred over Copyleft - then you should look in a mirror when saying that. Fortunately I suspect it's just your own preference and that's great. My opinion is that MIT licensed code is appropriate for some cases but I prefer GPLv3 as a default.
I'm rather angry at other licenses (MPL and Apache in particular) for existing. Maybe they bring some nuance that I don't understand yet, but their existence creates more options and concern over license compatibility. I think BSD/MIT or GPL/LGPL should be it, the rest IMHO are just fragmentation.
Sure it does. It essentially asks me to give away the ability to profit from my work later or get hired by companies making use of my projects. (Because companies generally refuse to use GPL code at all).
It’s hard enough keeping up the motivation to write and maintain an opensource project. If no one uses it and I can’t find a way to make it financially self sustaining on top of that? Bleh no thanks!
You mean, they refuse to use Linux?
Companies seem happy using GPL software (like linux) only so far as they're allowed to ignore all the share-alike clauses of the GPL.
If you are giving away source code, the GPL doesn't ask you to give more. It does require your downstream to continue giving should they take and extend or modify.