[Shank]

I think that's the wrong way of going about what they're offering. Either they're lying in that blog post (which would be very disingenuous to the people who pay them to operate, the users), or they legitimately had an idea of a free model with benefits added on and wanted to get some buffer cash before going that way.

Everyone saw the writing on the wall about growth when it launched, and the best solution to drive new users (and encourage them to upgrade) is to offer a service at a model that allows them to "get their feet wet" without signing up with a credit card.