Rather than post a really helpful reply to your question I am just going to cut to the chase and #BlameAikar
Well they did they were going to rotate it and perhaps SMP 6 wasn't going so well for new players because it's pretty quiet so they thought it would be a better idea to put them on a busier server? If that makes sense
Well Smp9 is getting new people alright but i think a bit of it has got to do with Krys saying about our server at MineCon
We put Fuzzball (my hamster) on his wheel. Every time he goes round, the server changes by the amount of times his wheel spins. He doesn't go on his wheel much.
It's pretty much which ever one I feel is going to have better retention rates and has room for new players...
Isn't this why the recommended server was introduced? To get people on smaller servers? SMP9 is in no way small. Servers such as SMP2 or SMP3 need to be the recommended server to get people on them. Just my three cents.
Catch-22. Put the recommended server as the busy server to keep retention rates high and the quiet servers get quieter, their retention rates get poorer and soon the whole world implodes. I remember having to queue to get onto the servers when there was only three or four. Been a loooong time since they've been that busy,
Well. My guess is there is elf behind the recommended server icon and when ever he wakes up from his long naps he changes it. Just a guess.
Well I just met a new member who complained that there were so few open plots available on smp9, that he went to live on smp5 instead.