It is funny to me to read about people being needed to be told what to do, or given permission to play certain roles. I didn't even know about the event until the day before it happened and I was still almost 20,000 LY's away. I jumped all night and literally got back to Sothis in my Exploraconda just as the festivities were getting started. I kept an eye on a couple of discord channels & voice comms that were posting updates in realtime, flew to Jameson's, grabbed my Vulture and managed to get to the system everyone thought at the time was going to be Salome's destination. I managed to wing up with two of my friends who heading that way looking to get in on the action, and we ended up at Teorges which was filling up fast with legions of battlefit Cutters, Corvette's, 'Condas. The place looked like an FdL convention. It was obvious that there was going to be a full out Battlestar Galactica showdown if she made it that far. It was hugely fun, even coming in the very end of it and not really playing a part.
If someone had told me that I couldn't do what I was doing they would have had to make me leave with force. Not part of a group. Not given any special permission...just me and my buddies looking to raise some cain. I think that's called "blazing my own trail." If people have learned anything from recent events, it's that you shouldn't have to ask permission to do whatever you want to do.