> but deprecating XSLT is a rare opportunity to shrink the surface area of the web’s “API” without upsetting too many people

There's a lot of back and forth on every discussion about XSLT removal. I don't know if I would categorize that as 'without upsetting too many people'

We are largely the nerds that other nerds picked on for being too nerdy. I’d bet that a hugely disproportionate share of all the people in the world who care about this subject at all are here in these conversations.