This was not phrased as an experiment by pg. Go back and read the "Coming soon" post. It was phrased entirely as "this is the way things are going to be now" with the caveat that he could roll back the change if necessary. But just because you can undo something doesn't make it an experiment.

I feel like you're unfairly giving pg the benefit of the doubt and placing the blame on the people against this idea. When you tell people this is the way things are going to be, it's reasonable for them to get upset by that.