[RFC] Why FreeBSD ports should have branches by OS version

[scratch65535 at att.net]

[Default] On Thu, 22 Jun 2017 14:18:56 +0200, Baptiste Daroussin
<bapt at FreeBSD.org> wrote:

>As usual with such proposal, where do you find the manpower to handle the number
>of branches required (the quarterly branches are already hard to maintain, it is
>only one branch).

Please help me out here, Baptiste, because I'm apparently missing
*something*.   

Out in industry, if you haven't enough people to do a new
high-quality release every N months, and you can't get a
headcount increase, then you cut the release schedule.  Can't do
4 releases a year?  Cut back to 2.  Still too many?  Cut back to
1.

The alternatives to cutting the schedule are that (a) people
begin burning out and quitting, (b) quality drops and your
customer base begins abandoning you, or (c) both of the above.

Why don't the same choices apply here?  What am I missing?