It's perfectly fine in a technical context: "bacterial growth is retarded by refrigeration" or something of that nature. But that's not how the commenter used

It's perfectly fine in a technical context: "bacterial growth is retarded by refrigeration" or something of that nature. But that's not how the commenter used the word. There are other, far less ambiguous and far more polite words to refer to a general lack of progress... old-fashioned, primitive, backwards, antediluvian, obstinate, ...