I think the problem that has come up in this thread many times before Virgil is that some Powerplay advocates are suggesting changes be made that would affect the entire game to fix an issue that some have with Powerplay.
An awful lot of people have no interest in Powerplay - I'd bet a lot of real money it's far more than do play Powerplay - and therefore don't want their game affected by a perceived problem in a part of the game they don't use.
ETA - if there is a problem with Powerplay then fix Powerplay - make it fit the game not the around way around.
I completely agree. There are a whole lot of people who have no interest in Powerplay, but there are people who do have an interest in the perks that joining a power (see: ALD) provide with little to no interest in Powerplay as a whole as means to an end. (ALD's 480% bounty payout bonus) With becoming involved Powerplay being as simple as a click of a button everyone can participate, but not everyone positively contributes. Most is wasted (fortifying fortified/nearby systems for merits) and a good chunk of it is even negative coming from your own faction. (Pushing the expansion of bad systems for merits).
The worst part about it is that most of Powerplay's issues, aside from straight up bugs are due to players not really knowing any better as they chase merits for dem sweet perks and gross inability to effectively inform players because the bulk of Powerplay influence are caused by solo players grinding merits.
Hence my reasoning for limiting solo's influence on Powerplay outcomes while still offering the main reason people are part of it in the first place.
Another possible solution I though of while wrapping up this post is that there could be a faction-wide chat channel that could be used for communication that could be seen even during solo. Food for though.
