The issue is that once your WordPress site has been forcefully "upgraded" to utf8mbr on a server where MySQL happens to support that you can then no longer migrate that site to another server where the MySQL version does not support that using standard procedures that people have been using for years. You don't call that a problem, what do you call it then?
I consider it more of a problem that the host you're moving to hasn't updated MySQL in at least 5 years. MySQL 5.5.3 was released March 24, 2010.
And by the way, a "WordPress.org Tech Guy" states that you can't go back from utf8mb4 to utf8 (or do you know otherwise in which case care to share how to do it safely, reliably and 100% guaranteed not to cause any problem under any conditions) and you certainly can't do it just by changing the table definitions, you already stated that yourself.
Yes, and as I also already stated, "but that might cause character encoding problems with the existing data." So, yeah, I know.
With all due respect did you actually read what I said? For your average workaday WordPress developer trying to scrape a living they often do not get a choice about their clients hosting.
I did read. Have you been following along in development? This wasn't a decision made overnight, and there have been many public discussions in the Make P2s at https://make.wordpress.org/ and on Trac.
it's just an excuse to try and avoid a issue that has been caused.
Not making an excuse, just stating like it is. I have little patience for hosts that let critical software sit un-updated for 5 years.
So, as I said, do you want to go head and contact all the hosts out there and tell then to get a move on and update their MySQL versions.
Nope, I'm sure they've been following the news and are either updating MySQL or don't care.
Or maybe you want to explain this to all those clients of workaday WordPress developers who have what you consider to be "outdated" hosting that that they need to change their hosting because WordPress has forced it upon them for no god reason they will understand.
And, as I keep saying, WordPress didn't force you to use a higher version of MySQL. If you're on a version of MySQL below 5.5.3, your collation wasn't changed.
Oh, and if you are so sure about this why not have WordPress.org "force" users into using PHP5.4+ rather than still passively (or even actively) encouraging them to not bother with having to use an up to date and supported PHP version by having WordPress still support PHP5.2?
WordPress will drop support for PHP 5.2 when WordPress needs to. Right now, there is no reason to, and the developers aren't even incurring the slightest hardship by supporting it.
but I don't know why you are so lackadaisical about something that is clearly a problem that you seem to fail to grasp based on your "misunderstanding" of my post.
Probably because I'm just volunteering support in my free time, I'm not one of the developers, and I personally don't see this as that big of an issue. Remember, just because you have a problem, or even a handful other people do, doesn't mean that everyone else does.
unfortunately they have taken their eye off the ball here and they will be doing a great many people a great service by doing the right thing and fixing the problem as caused and making this "upgrade" optional and providing a "reversion" path for anyone adversely affected thus far.
I assure you, their eyes were quite on the ball for many months. WordPress still requires only MySQL 5.0, that hasn't changed. If you were running 5.5.3 or higher, you got the new collation, and special characters are inserted as encoded text. If you weren't, you didn't, and special characters are inserted as images.
If your hosts insists on using a version of MySQL over 5 years old, I fail to see how that's a WordPress problem.
So I'm not "upset" about anything (haven'y you ever encountered anyone just putting across an argument/point in a forthright manner)
I agree, "upset" was the wrong word. You seem very passionate about this. Have you considered getting involved in the development of WordPress? https://make.wordpress.org/