Contrast that with what would happen if No Red Ink went out of business and the author of Elm couldn't find a job that would allow him to continue to develop it. Things would be fine for months or years but eventually bitrot would set in.

Definitely not trying to spread FUD. I know some great folks that swear by Elm. It's just another risk factor (just like tech debt that might accrue should you use jQuery) to consider.

Edited to correct where the Elm author works.

Nope. jQuery fit(ted) a different use case (spicing up server-side rendered HTML upto small browser based app-bits). Doing a browser-side app in Elm (what it's specifically made for) makes for code base that is so much easier to work on some years from now, than using jQuery to accomplish the same.

What I want to say is, the debt you're going to accrue applying it to Elm's domain will not be a risk, it is impossible not to be destroyed by that debt. Where Elm provides a serious alternatives to the browser app frameworks that are 10 generations younger than jQuery.

Elm's size, OTOH, is certainly a risk factor.