As we said in the post above, we agree that the original addition wasn't properly thought through, and it's no surprise that many folks didn't wind up checking the updated list out themselves personally. We also agree that making it available as a starter without ever following up on plans to make it available in any other method (since as you said, breeding is out) definitely contributed to the problem it later became. This is exactly why we're trying to fix the problem in the ways we laid out above.
As for the slippery slope... truthfully, this situation is extremely bizarre, and is the result of a particularly weird and unique series of events influenced by multiple factors-- the original weird decision, the lack of follow-up, the prolonged mod radio silence in general, the fact that it was brought to the game at large's attention in a surprising manner, the mod apps which THEMSELVES went unresponded to for weeks, the fact that we are new people responding to a situation created by a previous team, etc, etc, so on and so forth. To be quite frank, we've never seen anything exactly like this, and we probably never will again. If something similarly crazy happens somewhere down the line, we would probably handle it on a case-by-case basis just like we did with this issue, by being sensitive to the all the situational circumstances that led to it happening.
Rest assured, if a typo in the Ultra Ball rules led to a bright-eyed newbie thinking their character with one badge could obtain them and made a post detailing such that no one noticed until two months had passed, the "let the honest mistake stand, then prevent it from happening again" approach would be entirely appropriate! There would be no need to go rewrite the Ultra Ball rules because one person inadvertently got away with their character using an Ultra Ball when they shouldn't have been able to. This situation, on the other hand, is just not that simple.
We definitely don't want everyone to get a participation prize-- which is why we took badge requirements, power nerfs, future plotlines, and even IC motivation (no character would be able to accidentally obtain a Null, which in itself will cut down on the number of Nulls in play) into account while drafting up ideas. And, as we've said, said ideas are not necessarily the ones we have to go with in the long run. There may be even better ways to make Null work, both mechanically and creatively, in the game.
To conclude, we feel we've made the best decision we can, and while the nature of Type: Null's inclusion is certainly up for discussion, the inclusion itself is not. If you feel that there is a fairer way TO include it that still involves it being made available, we'd love to hear your thoughts!
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As for the slippery slope... truthfully, this situation is extremely bizarre, and is the result of a particularly weird and unique series of events influenced by multiple factors-- the original weird decision, the lack of follow-up, the prolonged mod radio silence in general, the fact that it was brought to the game at large's attention in a surprising manner, the mod apps which THEMSELVES went unresponded to for weeks, the fact that we are new people responding to a situation created by a previous team, etc, etc, so on and so forth. To be quite frank, we've never seen anything exactly like this, and we probably never will again. If something similarly crazy happens somewhere down the line, we would probably handle it on a case-by-case basis just like we did with this issue, by being sensitive to the all the situational circumstances that led to it happening.
Rest assured, if a typo in the Ultra Ball rules led to a bright-eyed newbie thinking their character with one badge could obtain them and made a post detailing such that no one noticed until two months had passed, the "let the honest mistake stand, then prevent it from happening again" approach would be entirely appropriate! There would be no need to go rewrite the Ultra Ball rules because one person inadvertently got away with their character using an Ultra Ball when they shouldn't have been able to. This situation, on the other hand, is just not that simple.
We definitely don't want everyone to get a participation prize-- which is why we took badge requirements, power nerfs, future plotlines, and even IC motivation (no character would be able to accidentally obtain a Null, which in itself will cut down on the number of Nulls in play) into account while drafting up ideas. And, as we've said, said ideas are not necessarily the ones we have to go with in the long run. There may be even better ways to make Null work, both mechanically and creatively, in the game.
To conclude, we feel we've made the best decision we can, and while the nature of Type: Null's inclusion is certainly up for discussion, the inclusion itself is not. If you feel that there is a fairer way TO include it that still involves it being made available, we'd love to hear your thoughts!