In my head it wasn't negative, it was that there are a lot of reasons that I don't think needed to be gone into. Offering value is one, having systems that are designed to minimize the impact of failures is another. Others that came to mind when I wrote that include: Being able to get them at the quantities they need, having systems that reduce the COST of failures (drive replacement and RMA), cost of RMAing 10 drives is < 10x the cost of RMAing 1 drive, having drives available in the SIZES Backblaze wants. And there are others I could speculate about but don't have as concrete information on (vendor relationships, manufacturer relationships, marketshare, firmware quality/suitability, temperature).

Maybe it's just my social/business groups, but "because reasons" doesn't have to have a negative meaning. I use it as more a statement of fact: There are reasons for this.

hmmm, I always thought "because reasons" was sarcastic, as in the person would list reasons but they are all bullshit. Of course, sarcasm can be impossible to discern correctly on Internet forums and social media. I admit I could be completely wrong about this.

Sarcasm tends to depend on context, tone, and delivery. It is particularly difficult to interpret in written commentary such as blogs like this.