Except objectively they stated ahead of time that a success would be stage separation, everything else is gravy. I had this same argument on HN after IFT-1. Folks were trying to argue that it was a failure because it blew up before orbit, when Elon was saying the whole time that just getting off the pad would be a success.

> Are the folks that build it the most objective observers?

Even the Administrator of NASA is happy with the progress. [1]

Objectively, it was a success.

[1] https://twitter.com/SenBillNelson/status/1725875275769028836

Only one word for a troll, though.