Now you do have that other 20% who are old well known Hams living in HOAs and IMHO used their contacts within the organization to lobby for FT8 to be included in the Mixed Awards and yes they do fork over some money every year.
Who said anyone lobbied anyone? Was there even a debate? Where's your evidence? You seem to live in this fantasy land where everyone knew that FT8 was the enemy of all Right Thinking Folk from day one.
This is, to my knowledge, total nonsense. WSJT-X and its predecessor WSJT worked in relative anonymity for years creating a variety of novel digital modes. The main focus was VHF and VHF EME at that. The resulting modes (most famously, JT65 but also two or three different meteor scatter modes) were accepted by the ARRL and by the CQ Awards system too without any debate that I can remember. I certainly submitted several worthwhile JT65 HF QSOs for credit back before FT8 happened. All of these modes were about as controversial as PSK31. I don't know what basement you live in, but we've been pioneering novel digital modes for years now. In fact, there is a couple of guys opining out loud about how Olivia should be more popular. Very few care about that one, but I see no evidence that the league treats it any differently than other digital modes.
Then FT8 came along. Two things happened: 1) It hit a sweet spot and became
very popular. It did so very quickly, in fact. 2) Because that speed required a semi-automatic operation, guys like you went ballistic.
But, if there was to be controversy about "computers talking to computers" it should have started with JT65. It did not. FT8 was treated exactly as what it was -- the next evolution in the WSJT-X suite of digital modes.
I think the bulk of operators and ARRL members do not use FT8. And these are the same people who fund DXpeditions and this hobby in general and I bet if they let their voices be heard things might change.
"I think" is not evidence. I've provided two lines of it -- Clublog data (you can see for yourself) and now this thread where the head of True Blue admits that members can't be kept in that non-FT8 silo. They defect over time.
Where is your evidence? "I think" you'll find that even if you are surrounded with a boatload of like-minded hams, you will find, if you search out the available
evidence that you are actually a strident minority. I have no
evidence to the contrary.
Go read what MM0TWX actually said. He put the failure of True Blue on his own shoulders, which was a stand up thing to do, but I thought he set it up about as well as it could have been.
He, at least, wanted to
promote traditional modes and not just hang around bashing FT8. That was going to attract more people than the basher group we see so much of in eHam. Well done, there. So, IMO, he gave the whole idea about as good a shot as it could have had.
And yet,
it failed.
You're like too many people today. You "think" you know something and yet here is substantial contradiction to what "you know" from the head of True Blue itself and it's like he never spoke up.
Sorry, dude, read the message and weep. Anti-FT8 has a shelf life, one even shorter than I thought.
That's not because I say so. It's because the evidence, now including the guy who was running True Blue, say so.