I agree with the quoted commenter's point that sometimes shit matters enough to put up with the suck, but I also agree with your point that people need to understand that walking away might be the right thing to do.

Finding that balance can be very hard.

This is true. I knew what I was getting into. I didn't expect it to be ten years, but I did expect at least five, before I could get folks to pitch in. I knew the character of the folks that would be trying to force the system into shapes that would not last, and how they would react to me.

In this case, it was for an organization that I've been involved in, for decades. I'm incredibly Grateful for what it's done for me, and I'm simply paying it back a bit.

The system was required to help them improve their discoverability, which could be life-saving.

It's not hyperbole to say that the system has probably saved many lives, and will continue to do so, for the foreseeable future.

It's also pretty much worthless, monetarily. No one would be willing to pony up a fraction of what it would have cost to build, if it were paid.

I'd do it all over again, if I had to. Fortunately, I don't have to. The team that took it over have done great things with it. It's a ship of Theseus type of thing. There's probably not much code I wrote, left. I write apps that now leverage it.