What he said, at some point last year something seemed to change a bit in the attitudes of the folks that seem to make the decisions for this project. It lost a 'everyone pitch in, this will be awesome, group hug" feeling and becasme a "I am so close to taking my toys and going home" attitude. First the databases were witheld and now you need a secret handshake to put up a private server. In the end I expect whichever group has the most open and inclusive attiudes towards the community will dominate. I know my support will go to whichever group most embraces a sense of open community.
I also hope any splinter group considers trying to get the game back to just like E&B at sunset (with the extra character types as a stretch goal). I really feel changes in the game now are making this a similar but still different game. These differences make me less interested in this project every change from the original that gets made.
Spacegrrrl