>There's a natural belief that unless someone is egregiously out of line, all discussion around a project from users is allowed, even encouraged.

I mean sure, but how do you intend to stop people? You can't stop them from setting up a forum somewhere.

This is why github discussions is useful though. A feature request in a ticket is something that needs to be handled. A feature request in a discussion is just some users talking about stuff they think would be cool.