I would liken it to tax evasion. It's not illegal, and I absolutely don't mind people doing it. But I'd not publicize it or write a whitepaper on how I am doing it.
'outstanding' is a judgement. seems the criteria people in this HN comment section have is not aligned with the arbiter of the visa (us gov, described by OP). Its not shady for the OP to publish exactly what he did and what result he got, and I don't see any shady actions in his write up