HN's skepticism on this subject (which I share) is understandable. At the same time I share your view of its enormous potential.

Personally I'd question the "who is this coming from?" (you answered that in another comment), and "what's the intention behind it?".

If you're a commercial company, I'd be tempted to suspect a "hook 'em while they're young" thought behind it. Perhaps not now, but turning into that over time because 'reasons' (cough "shareholder value" & the like).

If you were a non-profit otoh, I'd give you the benefit of the doubt.

To address that, would you be willing to pursue a non-profit status for your company and/or platform? Has this been discussed @ some point?

Btw: thanks for taking the time to address the many issues raised in this thread! HN can be a brutal place for people not used to its audience! (trust me, we're mostly friendly but with an extreme no-bullshit attitude at times).