Github issues vs. articles must be a generational thing; I have never used Github's issue tracker even for FOSS projects (admittedly not because we had better alternatives). I'm not even particularly old, but I am old enough to pre-date GH issue trackers as the de facto FOSS issue tracking solution.

Certainly, I would reach out to the author of a project -- especially a personal not-for-profit FOSS project -- before putting them on alert with a highly critical blog post. Except in exceptional circumstances (eg intentional spyware or backdoors embedded into the project).

But I don't think of articles as better or worse than GH issues in terms of form.

This kind of reminds me a tame version of the "disclosure debate" in security in the 90s/00s, I guess. Just because a lot of that debate was claimed to be about protecting users but was actually often about protecting egos (and "look how smart I am" zine articles that weren't entirely written in good faith or professional ethos). Except, of course, that in this case I think a simple cultural difference could explain a lot without any ill intent on either side.

(FWIW I'm not saying either of us is right or wrong. Perception is inherently subjective and all culture is relative. But I think I better understand how this project became so controversial...)