Posts: 6,059
Threads: 303
Joined: Aug 2007
Staff roles: Story Dev Economy Dev
To be fair, the counter argument is that the current GMG is almost entirely disconnected from the old one. There's barely any cross-over between old membership and new, and absolutely no crossover between old leadership and new. Effectively, the current GMG is an entirely new faction that was established within the corpse of the old group.
Given the lack of that thread of continuity, and the fact that said new group didn't even show up until the Sigma 13 event and this warning, I'm not really surprised by the decision. Hardship requests were supposed to be for factions that were barely alive but showing a goodwill attempt to make things better up to that point. The GMG had 30 minutes of activity and had actively ignored all forum RP in the preceding month(s).
Frankly, reapplying for official status isn't a bad thing. It'll give you a target to motivate members towards and it demonstrates your group can stand up on its own merits instead of inheriting someone else's work. The only thing going unofficial changes is faction rights, and if they were the only thing that mattered - instead of a love for the group itself - then perhaps the revival was being done for the wrong reasons.
Your new group? Plenty going for it. The old GMG, prior to the activity warning? Deader than a dodo. That's the reasoning behind the decision so far as I can make out.