But you can use any totp authenticator. The protocol is free and open.

It's more to make the point that "no means no." An act of protest.

(I have written a TOTP implementation myself. I do not have a GH account, and likely never will.)

It's ridiculous to say "no means no" about not wanting to use a password to get an account, right?

What makes TOTP different from a password in terms of use or refusal?

Browsers don't save the TOTP seed and auto fill it for you for one, making it much less user friendly than a password in practice.

The main problem I have with MFA is that it gets used too frequently for things that don't need that much protection, which from my perspective is basically anything other than making a transfer or trade in my bank/brokerage. Just user-hostile requiring of manual action, including finding my phone that I don't always keep on me.

It's also often used as a way to justify collecting a phone number, which I wouldn't even have if not for MFA.

Mine does. Yours doesn't?

We are talking of non-SMS MFA

Should you have the freedom to put in a blank password, too?

My password is a single 'a'. Nobody will ever guess that one.

They have the freedom to request whatever authentication method they want.