Well, the second link in your post is still the top thread in that subforum, so it's not exactly hidden...
That thread isn’t hidden, but the title doesn't even speak to the fact that they're losing the license, and you have to go well into the thread to see Donald's post that purchases won't carry over (they haven’t updated the initial post, which only says that "Donald and Jay have committed to honoring your previous purchases in their new version"). If they really wanted to inform people they'd tell people at the point of purchase that they are only buying the product through December 2016. I haven't logged on to check but I don't think anyone who bought Adventures already reported on being informed as such directly.
I wonder what percentage of their sales since they posted that they lost the license are to people who don't understand that Making Fun is losing the license, or the percentage since Stef's announcement who won't understand that sets won't carry over for more than a year. I assume that less than 1% of purchasers read the Terms of Service.
I mean, it's a difficult situation for them too. They work on this expansion forever, and when they finally release it, word comes out that they are dropping their service, so nobody buys the expansion, and all those man-hours are for naught. I can sort of understand.
It can't happen because of the contracts already negotiated, but my ideal would be: starting now, Making Fun has to inform everyone directly that they're purchasing the sets only through December 31 (not in terms of service, but right up front), Stef/SCSN have no obligation to provide anything past that to someone who purchases from here on out, and Making Fun is allowed to charge a lower price for sets (since they're not promising any obligation by their successor).