The privacyguides team killed a 200k subreddit for privacy (privacytoolsio) out of spite. I'll never forget that. Their replacement subreddit has yet to reach anywhere near the same number of people (50k) or activity.
I don't know how much spite is behind a complete communication breakdown between the founder and the team that joined him.
The founder felt unhappy about working with his team and ceased all communication. The team felt concerned about this bus factor and wanted to retain the fruits of their labor.
I would say it's understandable that the founder missed being solely independent and that the team wanted to make sure that their organization is more durable. A separation was inevitable and inevitably full of drama. At least both sides roughly ended up with what they wanted.
