The negotiations changed focus recently when SimEnc scrapped their citations and SME policies; two of the key objections Charles had to SimEnc's authoritarian and non-collaborative direction which led to him getting banned. With those stumbling blocks gone, Chas (Director of SimEnc) initiated negotiations with Charles to restore him to SimEnc and prevent the breakaway wiki.
Personally, I'm really very encouraged to see a way forwards for one simming wiki, rather than the communities efforts being split between two separate wikis (which might potentially fight legal action against each other from time to time, spending more energy).
Essentially, SimEnc are open to offering Charles an option Phoenix's first members were never offered by AJJE. Whereas Alex V very 'graciously' offered to 'pardon' us for all those rules we didn't break, Chas is talking with Charles about their respective visions for the wiki and discussing how they can go forwards together. I am glad to see we may be able to progress in the direction of reunification.
It is, however, far from a done deal. Charles is not the kind of man to become compromised in his principles, which I value and respect, so if Chas fails to convince Charles that SimEnc can genuinely be an open source community wiki, Charles will set up such a resource elsewhere. Also, Charles is speaking for a broader group of stakeholders now, and not just his own interests. That complicates discussions by adding extra terms to the table which other stakeholders are bringing forwards that Charles may not have insisted on on his own.
So yeah, still quite an uncertain future. But either way, there will be an open source community led wiki at the end of it covering the online rp community, either SimEnc reformed, or a new wiki started by Charles Star.
Ash