We've blogged about the infrastructure change that led to this decision https://blog.twitter.com/2015/hard-decisions-for-a-sustainable-platform - I'd also point out that as undocumented and unsupported endpoint, probably never a good idea to rely on this data. No plans to change other JSON endpoints on the API.

Disclaimer: I work as a Developer Advocate at Twitter

Which "spinmods" are you referring to?

I'd love to understand how this is a "clear case of... doing evil". This is a good read http://discursive.com/2013/01/09/things-to-keep-in-mind-as-a-vert-x-observer-you-dont-know-anything/

VMware and Red Hat issued a joint statement on direction in the vert.x Google Group and are working together to take this forward. To describe that as "evil" is misrepresenting the situation.

(disclosure: I work on Open Source projects at VMware)

There's no intent that I have heard of to do this - in fact quite the opposite, see VMware and Red Hat joint statements in the vert.x Google Group
(disclosure: I work on Open Source projects at VMware)

VMware and Red Hat jointly stated that the organisations wanted to work together and prefer a solution with an independent foundation (disclosure: I work on Open Source projects at VMware)