Below is the new metaserver policy as posted to
http://metaserver.us.netrek.org/

"Metaserver Restrictions
A restriction has been placed on the metaserver.us.netrek.org that will
avoid listing spare servers until the preferred server has at least 12
players.

At the moment, the spare servers are netrek.warped.us, netrek.hwy.com.au
and netrek.pulsar-zone.net, and the preferred server is
continuum.us.netrek.org."

I would like to know how others feel about this.  On one hand, we want to
encourage play on bronco servers, and the recent/ongoing addition of pre-T
bots to continuum is a good start.  On the other hand, I don't think it's
fair to have preferred/unpreferred status in the metaserver listing.
Servers with newbie-type bots are newbie friendly, especially if is off
hours and there aren't 12 players on continuum (which is the vast majority
of the day).  By cutting off these servers from being listed, I think it
does a disservice to netrek.  Secondly, I don't feel it's fair to unlist
a popular server (warped) because it's taking away players from the
"proper" type of netrek.  As the admin on warped, I would be willing to
take steps, such as reducing max players to 8, or having a vote for bronco
mode, that would alleviate the problem.  But I feel this tiered metaserver
system is, frankly, unfair.

I'm interested especially in what the metaserver2 admins feel, and whether
they would use this sort of preferred system in the future.  I have been
telling players, especially those fans of sturgeon, to use metaserver2.

Bill