We decided to do this because we're not content with the way that the poll for the codebase side has been handled, the reasons include:
Oranges stated reason for the poll/PR (that the issue remains divisive and creates headaches for maintainers) is understandable but not solved by this kind of polling on it again or trying to ram through removals.
If I ran this poll again next week, we'd almost certainly get a different result, and similarly if I ran it again the week after, and again and again, until the poll would (eventually) come back empty simply out of pure fatigue.
You cannot get to a definitive answer that will satisfy people on a divisive issue by re-polling on this stuff. If this removal goes ahead, we'd be back here in a year or less polling on reimplementing felinids, whether as a result of agitation on the repository or due to it becoming a politicized issue in headmin elections.
The reason the headmin team hadn't made a statement before now on this was due to not wanting to add fuel to the fire on what might have been a "prank", similar to ones that oranges has carried out on several occasions in the past, both on this and other topics. The statement of intent by oranges motivated us to make our view and intent known.
I understand there will be disappointment and even anger at this statement, and I apologize for the uncertainty this situation has created for players of /tg/. I wish I didn't have to write out 500 odd words on a racial choice in a 2D atmos simulator, but here we are.