Because the npm ecosystem pulls package dependencies automatically, deleting leftpad kicked a necessary brick out of the foundation of some hundred (thousand?)

Because the npm ecosystem pulls package dependencies automatically, deleting leftpad kicked a necessary brick out of the foundation of some hundred (thousand?) libraries, breaking all of them. You could consider this a weakness in npm's design... Most package managers don't have the decentralization of authority that npm does. But if it is weakness in the design, it's a weakness that the leftpad author chose to exploit.