I think the real parts in these stories are -

1. Have free plan to pick up 10x more users (and gain more traction, exposure, feedback, etc).

2. When the time is right, remove free plan to convert some of those users.

The rest is just b.s. to justify a perfectly good strategy to those free users and the rest of the market. Which is b.s. in itself (...thinking you have to justify it with b.s.).

But it was so well done here that you kind of have to admire it.

Gaining H.N. exposure for a day, and getting picked up on some other sites is also not too bad.