Fyi, decreasing the number of groups not only harm creators but also harm clubs, DJs, roleplayers, and basically anyone cultivating the very communities that keep people in sl. With the number of social media platforms, chat programs that sl is competing with, that might not be a good idea? You might want to maybe consider getting rid of inactive accounts and groups. Or as others have mentioned create a variety of premium accounts that have specific perks that a landowner or creator or regular user would want. Maybe have people select from a dropdown menu to select options such as a monthly stipend or free number of uploads, free home, waive a certain amount of cashouts, premium sandbox, etc. Also, why not give a warning to everyone of the price increase for those not on premium now? The very basics you learn in marketing is offering a great deal that is time based lol. I bet you would have had a good amount of free users that would have bought into a premium account before the increase if you gave them the opportunity to do so. Like how you offered the ability to purchase grandfathered regions..
Also, it's appreciated that the price of land has gone down slightly. I think it's still way too high and hope you can find more ways to lower the operating costs and continue to pass the savings to consumers.