There was a poll, a lot of forums threads and posts which didn't change the outcome. I'm not bashing on the success Lordearon had after launch, simply pointing out that there was a vast majority of players that didn't want it.
I wouldn't trust the stats shown on the main page as it's not always 100% accurate. In addition, you're looking at stats after the fact. Again, reference previous forums posts and threads, there was a vast majority of players who didn't want this change and some that did. Happened Anyways. Moving on.
I stand corrected here on this point, feedback did appear to finally have an impact and I went and saw the initial post made by Proterean.
I'm glad we agree on this as I believe you've seen many of my posts regarding this, why it won't change, and how players can try and get around this minor annoyance.
Many of the decisions regarding the project servers and the changes they've gone through have originated from the project owner. It's one thing when these are proposed changes by the staff, but generally once I've heard it's the project lead who wants it I generally don't fight or questions it at that point, even if I don't agree with it. Also, from a financial standpoint, it's not cheap to host servers lol.