If you think of all of the decisions that are made between having no software/users/"scale", to being something like Netflix, you can imagine how many opportuni

If you think of all of the decisions that are made between having no software/users/"scale", to being something like Netflix, you can imagine how many opportunities there are for things to become "terrible" (or really, for a system to be made a small percentage worse, which obviously accumulates over time). I would challenge the assertion that most sufficiently scaled systems are "terrible", more that a person did not like them for one reason or another. If a system accommodates the demands of its users and maintainers, I don't really think you can label it terrible. Scaled software isn't art, it is either good enough or it isn't. I would argue that it is becoming easier for "terrible" software to scale well. I would say that's a much bigger win.