Thanks for describing both the technical and business challenges involved in running real services that real people rely on, even when the service appears simple and straightforward to outsiders (even smart hn commenters). Though, it still sucks to have yet another product enter the Google Graveyard.

In general, I see this type of dismissiveness way too often - e.g. "What's the big deal? I could build this in a weekend." or "Why doesn't big company X just do this simple thing?" It's only when people actually try to build a business around even the most trivial of problem that they realize the complexities involved with long term support.