Right, not an oversight :P

Basically, we have two choices:

1. over the years, pre-12.x clients see less and less servers in their server-list
2. keep showing pre-12.x clients a list of servers, just none they can query

Initial, 1) seems to be the right thing to do. However, it does also give a false idea that "there are no multiplayer servers for OpenTTD anymore". Which is not true. They just cannot be reached by you.

So 2) seems better, as that nudges the player to: this is a you issue, not an us issue.

Sadly, we have no other ways of communicating with pre-12.x clients, so it is a bit meh no matter what. But I think I prefer the current situation, where we send the IPs of public servers to pre-12.x clients, just to keep their server-list filled.

I do not like the "OpenTTD is dying" blabla, basically, which will come from doing 1).

So going to close this issue, unresolved, as I consider this not-a-bug.

If you disagree, feel free to present your argument, as this is an open conversation :)