I did not really find anything wrong with the way Garrett worded his initial post. He explained why it hadn't been implemented before, then made his opinion known about solos and solo play in general. I think you (Coruba) should relax just a wee bit, and give some people the benefit of the doubt next time.
Anyways, moving on I would definitely not encourage people to play solo in this game. I would want them to join an alliance, meet some people (good and bad) and learn the game from people, not from struggling around in the dark grasping at straws.
Promote Alliance play, not Solo Play.
Work on improving the alliance features of this game, to enrich the social atmosphere of the game, and improve the manner in which the game functions as an alliance based game. Solos are, and should remain, an afterthought in this game.
Edit: The Dropout rate probably has more to do with people signing up, playing solo because there are hardly any worthwhile alliances, and not knowing WTF to do, getting landraped, finding out how difficult/long the game is to play, and what a steep learning curve it has. You could drop this rate significantly with an increase in the social aspects of the game, with a playerbase willing to teach and group together randomly to form new friendships, meet new people etc. Solo play is actually probably not a benefit to decreasing the dropout rate.