The notion that this is poisoning the well is also supported by the general pattern: retreating on an idea that others thought was bad, avoiding literally any discussion of the technical/cultural criticism (despite that it apparently still existed legitimately enough to postpone the proposal for now) and 2/3rd or more of the post spent implying that [all|some|who knows] of the opponents were abusive bullies, and that maybe the idea was actually fine. (Setting the stage to absolutely re-introduce with the new framing "inauthentic traffic" in 6 months.)

Note also, avoiding any discussion of the web open or how it entered into the decision to postpone, supposedly.

I am not emotionally invested because I see this as inevitable and don't care, I'll go live in the woods soon anyway, but this is just icky to read.