I don't think they were using this as justification or explanation in their eventual reversal. I think they provided these quotes as interesting tidbits. Kind of like pull-out quotes on an article. You can ignore them entirely and still get the gist of the post.

On a more general note: It's got to be incredibly hard to do what GitLab does with their extreme transparency. I feel like we have to be careful about reading too deeply into things and nitpicking their culture or process. HN is full of "expert" advice, much of it being terrible. They weighed their options, invited feedback, then made a decision.

I appreciate what GitLab does in being so transparent. None of us are owed explanations or insight into how they operate, yet they go out of their way to provide it. Kudos to syste and his team!