Announced in the Team Fortress 2 blog, Valve has begun a process that will be de-listing servers they deem as "bad."  Using number of connections and player time on the server as the main factors in judgment, they calculated a score for each server and those servers in a certain block (my guess is a percentage), were removed from the master server listing system.  Password-protected and low-use (less than 200 connections) servers were excluded from the search and destroy mission.

Once again Valve is making owning one of their software titles a treat and a vacation from released garbage put on shelves only to remove $50 or $60 from your pocket.  They are encouraging you to get your friends to join in the TF2 fun by limiting the poor experiences of their new and faithful fans alike.  As a person who has put over 200 hours into the game I applaud this change and look forward to the next improvement to a game I so obviously enjoy.  This is another brilliant marketing move by Valve.  Similar to my views in my article here on Pwned regarding the free release of the Xbox 360 update of Left4Dead, Valve is creating a brand-loyal following that will buy anything they put on the shelf, even if they have to wait a long time to get it.  *cough* Half-Life 2: Episode 3 *cough*

They have their customers hook, line and sinker.  Now, could someone find me some pliers, I seem to have some metal protruding from my cheek.