https://wiki.factorio.com/Landfill#History wrote:
0.17.10:
Landfill is now a separate tile, differentiated from grass-1.
0.17.0:
Landfill can now be included in blueprints and placed by construction robots.
Now there's no longer that much of a point in having a specially added tile to act as a platform tile. The landfill tile could be reskinned to look like platforms and the minability could be added to the landfill tile. And then you could remove the Platform recipe and platform item and platform tile to reduce mod complexity. I get that it was needed in 0.16 when the mod was made, but with proper landfill support from the main game the mod could be implemented by modifying the base assets instead of adding new ones for better future proofing, stability and usability.
But the primary benefits are that if you install the mod mid-game then already placed landfill becomes minable and you don't have to throw away all the landfill you have already crafted because you need a new item type. And if you need to disable the mod later (maybe temporarily because of Factorio update or something) the platforms don't become grass-1 and then stay that way when the mod is updated to the incompatible Factorio version.
And if people knew that they could keep playing safely even if they were not able to use the mod consistently then they would not have to hesitate in using the mod and the platforms since all their platforms in boxes won't just disappear whatever happens and all their placed platforms won't become unminable.
Discussed in https://forums.factorio.com/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=69602#p430402 first
