I'll miss it too. Despite all the complaints I never really thought it was much of a problem, just a different thing. And yes, I did experience it with my player account and no, I had no problem at all not knowing who all those strangers were. Hopefully it will be worked on and reintroduced soon.
Now, it'll be interesting to see if roleplay increases as a result of this, since it was thought that this mech was killing it. Was it true? 
Errr.. that's not quite what I meant. I liked it because of the funny conversations it came up with. such as
(19:16:06) Camazotz says: Hello, Orgonwukh
Orgonwukh says: [who's that someone?]
(19:16:47) Camazotz says: [which someone?]
(19:16:53) Orgonwukh says: [you someone

]
(19:17:03) Izzabella says: [lol who is talking and sayign hi Orgonwukh ]
(19:17:04) Camazotz says: [Camazotz]
(19:17:13) Rinenud says: [Camazotz]
I hope to see this system again soon! I await its arrival, and by then hopefully there will still be some more confusion among the
dreaded, feared, someones!