I've been thinking and there's no easy way to say this, so I'll get to the point - This isn't a said and done plan. Nothing is changing right now and still may not.

The IP change has hit us hard, with the number of people joining down 80%, which in turn is effecting the Advert revenue which is also paying much less per hit than before. Before the Strange #1 server alone could generate enough on it's own to pay for all the other servers. Now it doesn't even cover 10% of the running costs. The rest comes out of my own pocket.

While I mention the servers, let me explain what I know is happening. From one point of view, the servers are stable. The problem is that we keep getting multiple instances of the same server running, which then cancel each other out and they appear offline.
So for example there may be 2 hotels running, both trying to take the same IP address, meaning neither can be seen.

As for why multiple instances of these appear is a bit of a mystery still. If a server has crashed then that instance of the server should disappear as well, but it seems this doesn't always happen. So a server may crash but the 1st instance of that server still exists, and program that manages the servers creates a new instance. Except now with more than once instance of the same server running it appears offline even though it's actually not.

As for me, well my IRL job is hitting me very hard right now. The short version of events is basically that my manager handed her notice in and quit a couple months ago, and the lady most qualified to take over her was due to go on maternity leave. So she took over, but I had been shadowing her to learn the job so that the new person hired to replace the original manager can learn the ropes quicker when they start in a few weeks time (they are working their notice period with their former employer still)

Well the lady due to go on maternity leave had to take that leave earlier than expected. So I ended up doing both my job and the job of my manager (which I'm not qualified to do) until the new hire starts!

As you can imagine this has been somewhat stressful for me, with me working much longer hours than I am contracted to do. When I have gotten time to look in on the servers, I've only really made sure they were up and running. I've been too physically tired and mentally exhausted to look into the actual fixes.

My problem is that I don't see things returning to the way they were before. The new hire might be no good, or take longer than expected to get up to speed. And alongside other real life commitments, I will have less and less time for running this group, the servers, mapping and gaming in general. At the moment I am keeping myself sane by not doing any work on Saturdays, and still doing work during my free time on Sundays.

We had been quietly looking for admins to replace the likes of Jawi, but I personally haven't been able to do that and the the last time I spoke to the other admins, neither had they, presumably because we are seeing less people joining the servers in the first place. Now though the plan is more towards replacing me.

This is the PROVISIONAL plan I discussed in our Discord server a couple weeks ago:

We keep the servers open for the rest of the year. We can try keep an eye out for both new admins and someone to replace me, and if we find someone who can take over, they can be trained up. No need for the servers to shut down at the end of the year if someone is in training at that point.
But if we don't have anyone by say December 1st, then we announce the closure and shut down December 31st.

To be honest, this is not a perfect ship I would be standing down from and handing over to someone else, this is a sinking ship that someone would need to fix. I'll not list all the issues here, but if someone were interested in taking over then they can ask.

But yes, the future of this Group is not certain. And I don't really know what else to say to that.