All the other comments aside: these aren't even contradictory statements. We really do have no-tech-debt rules, and they generally have not been responsible for our outages. Consul wasn't tech debt; it was a carefully made decision (that I happen to disagree with and enjoy thinking about Michael Ehrmantrout shooting in the face).
We're just people, working on building a thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghNJxYP5Ses
Also: stop calling yourself an "outsider". You follow us as closely as anybody. :)