I'm having some difficulty following the sequence of events here. I'm troubled by what I'm reading.

Perhaps someone can enlighten me: did WMF consult the community about its wish to change the content on this public-facing content portal? (A portal survey does not carry the same weight as a community RfC). If so, when, where and how was there a public discussion with proportionate notice and scope, and who closed the public discussions?

A potential issue that I see here is that the page is fundamentally a community navigation page rather than technical infrastructure, and as such edits done to the content of the page (which are different from the technical functioning of the search features) should be done by the community. WMF can, of course, propose changes for the community to make, and surveys can be valuable inputs into the community decision-making process.