I was expecting this to be about the technical reason not to use .io, or really any ccTLD, as opposed to .com or newer gTLDs.

Historically, ccTLDs have been more poorly run and have less strict technical requirements for how they are run. That make sense because, well, it's not like ICANN can take away ".ne" from Niger even though the registration website they have listed on icann wiki (http://www.intnet.ne/) is running linux 2.6.32 and doesn't allow registration anymore.

On the other hand, if, for example, ".coffee" is being poorly run by its owner, ICANN can give it to a new owner and require them to run it better.

... That said, this was a joy to read! Since I see you around, author, your writing style is excellent, and I'm happy I read what I did, even if I am nit-picking about the above point being missed.