It comes with that option, but does the option work well?

It does work well in my experience. I assume that the bug you mentioned has now been fixed.

The fact that I didn't report it and I don't know whether it is fixed should be a red flag. Something is wrong with how they're dealing with the community. People in the community who're trying to communicate should not consistently become pissed off with the process. Once or twice, it is just some bad apples. If problems are consistent, at some point you really need to stop making excuses and say, "Why am I not being seen like I want to be seen?"

From what I have seen on the M::B list bug reports are fixed quickly and patches are accepted. Evidently a few people's experiences have been different which is sad.

Personally I don't think Ken's response to your initial report was as harsh as you seem to think it was - but YMMV. Ken's also recently said that he'll be removing his expressed personal preference from the docs.

Personally I'd say giving M::B another chance. I've seen no signs of any arrogance on the list myself, only people trying hard to come up with a useful alternative to EU::MM.