Let me put it briefly and as simply as possible since I hate long quote/answer style which apparently lots of posters like to use and tends take parts of Posts out of context.
If the server is NOT going to be updated at all, the you should say so CLEARLY so that everyone participating in this game can choose whether they want to continue playing or not. No mush-mush about clans, voting etc. No one cares who owns the server, who updates it, votes for it or who plays most of the time on it.
BTW. The game hasn't moved from turn one and it's not possible, at the moment, to connect to server; so I'd say that you haven't gone through hassle to start this game since game hasn't really started yet (or to put it in other words, you still have a lot of hassle to go
). That is also a reason why I'm thinking of dropping out since this game simply can't seem to start.
Bottom line is that I don't really care that much about Version I play, but I have a problem with reason you gave.