To me this is gif vs gif. The populous has shifted in a direction the originator didn’t intend, but it’s the populous that use it.

RESTful to me is HTTP calls with PUT/PATCH/GET/DELETE and whatever else I am missing. The return doesn’t need to be json but needs to be structured so XML, JSON, etc

Part of the nomenclature problem here is that there's no other way to refer to an HTTP-based API. REST was originally an alternative to the horrible SOAP. I'd be fine with calling it something else (because the author is right, nobody's following Fielding's vision), but there's nothing else to call it.

this is explained in the article... referred to as Level 2 of Richard Maturity Model.

"Everyone stopped at Level 2 of the RMM"