> "Linus is not your boss."
From Dictionary.com, a boss is:
3. a person who makes decisions, exercises authority, dominates, etc.: My grandfather was the boss in his family.
So, for the people who is working on the linux kernel project, Linus is indeed their boss.
Linus exercises authority over his project. He decides which contribution to take in and which to leave out. He is a boss of linux. But not the boss of people who contibute because he has no authority over them to exercise.
It may look like masochism, but people who work with a "benevolent dictator" know what they are in for. We don't need to be "protected" and if you don't like it, just don't come, the same way I'm not going to play with soccer players because I don't play soccer.