This thread is already the size of several essays but whatever.

Explain to me what rights you think you have as a mod "owner", and why those rights are important to you.

As the copyright holder of all original works I create, I enjoy, among other things, the right to distribution. Where I host my work, how it is accessed, which platforms it is accessed on, and so on.

Like your argument, mine is a bit philosophical as well; it's the principle of the matter. I'm the kind of author that I want my work to be accessible and playable and fun, on as many platforms and players as I can reach. But that is my decision to make, and if you try to take that decision away from me, I will push back. Because just like any other artist or programmer or musician, I get to decide where my work is enjoyed, and under what terms. To think that you, or others, should choose this for me based on your personal opinions as an author is incredibly presumptuous. Even if your opinion is the same as mine, you can't make it for me. It's rude. It's disrespectful.

You said up top,

I consider all of my mods part of the public domain. My source files are readily available. You can download them, modify them, re-upload them as-is and claim them as your own. I don't care.

Ok, that's cool. I'm glad for you. That is something that you chose to do. In fact, some of my mods also public domain, because I chose to make them that way. But not others, it depends on what it is and their particular circumstances.

It's not about me trying to be an asshole or try to be the king of my own little petty popularity island, it's about respecting my choice and my wishes. If I invite you to my house, you can come in. If you assume that you can walk in any time and that it's not actually my house anyway, what does that make you? Would you really be surprised if I felt disrespected and kicked you out? I mean... really, is it such a huge leap to just ask you to respect what people want instead of this anti-social argument that what they want doesn't matter?

I respect your wishes as an author and that you want your work to be public domain. I just expect you to respect mine in return. I'm a "live and let live" kind of guy. You do you man, but you need to let me do me too. Let's just be decent people to one another.