Elm has done some great work, even the ones, who left elm for other tech, acknowledge elm's elegant design.
However, elm is not pragmatic. the issues mentioned in Luke plant's "leaving elm" [0] are valid. and Evan's response to that was far from satisfactory[1] and this has affected Elm's popularity.
The disagreement between BDFL and community has happened in many other cases as well. and there is a way to solve them amicably. Most recently, Vue faced it when community caused uproar over composition API RFC. and Vue solved it nicely and amicably[2]. If Elm has followed similar approach, Elm too would be praised for it, and gained even more popularity.
However, elm is not pragmatic. the issues mentioned in Luke plant's "leaving elm" [0] are valid. and Evan's response to that was far from satisfactory[1] and this has affected Elm's popularity.
The disagreement between BDFL and community has happened in many other cases as well. and there is a way to solve them amicably. Most recently, Vue faced it when community caused uproar over composition API RFC. and Vue solved it nicely and amicably[2]. If Elm has followed similar approach, Elm too would be praised for it, and gained even more popularity.
[0] https://lukeplant.me.uk/blog/posts/why-im-leaving-elm/
[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/elm/comments/g070sz/evans_response_...
[2] https://dev.to/danielelkington/vue-s-darkest-day-3fgh