user stories can be technical. Service X needs a more generic API

That's not a user story, unless you sell an API.

Even if you don't sell an API every team has users and customers. As a backend dev your users are just internal devs consuming your service.

the 'user story' presented:

- didn't identify the user - did't identify why the user needs a more generic api - what a more generic api would look like ... etc

Granted, it was just a quick demonstrative HN post, not an actual user story being handed to an engineer -- but it was very much framed as a incredibly open ended task.

I personally have mixed feelings on user stories vs tasks when it comes to the backend. Most managerial folk I've dealt with have an aversion to using anything internal to the company as a 'user' -- taking 'customer' a bit too literally.

In the grand scheme of things, I don't care...I've reached an exhaustion point with pedantry around tickets. Is it clear what needs doing? Is it clear what done means? Great.

It has users, but

As an internal user I want a more generic API So I can do more generic things

Is not a real user story :) Neither is:

As a CFO I want the API to be rewritten in Rust So I can pay less for hosting

They might be phrased like one, but user stories are meant to address specific user tasks or journeys, which doesn't work well for generic improvements.

Ahhh ok, I see your point