Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why is it mean? The author can use whatever license they like. If you don't like it, you're more than welcome to release your own code under a more permissive license.
It's misleading to present the project as being for use by others and then forbid any use in the legal print?
The "legal print" in this case is five lines long, written in (contrary to most licenses) very plain english, located in the root of the repository, in a file named 'LICENSE.md'. It's not exactly hidden where a reasonable person might overlook it. "We didn't know" isn't a very convincing defense.