did they ask people to stop? i read through the text and couldn't see that mentioned, which struck me as odd. i'm pretty sure that it wouldn't have stopped everyone, but to not ask people first seems a bit misguided to me.

[edit: my comment on that page asking about this hasn't been answered, but there's a reply to another comment saying "people were approached" that refers to the previous post - http://www.techedbackstage.net/2010/02/17/bittorrent-traffic... - that does describe in more detail what happened. and there's still no description of a general announcement.

i do understand their frustration, but to take an approach like this without any announcement is going to encourage some people to "fight back". a sympathetic announcement with an explanation would have got the majority of users "on their side", producing peer pressure and setting expectations that would reduce the amount of conflict. not doing so comes across as passive aggressive and encourages an "arms race"]