I respectfully disagree.
It may not be a big deal to those who didn't have a high rank, but for players like myself who put in 500 hours to reach Rank 101, it's a massive issue. I just cannot begin to even fathom what moron thought that resetting the online rank would be a good idea. So what if it's for the new players in 2048? Tough, they should have played HD first. I guess it's pretty trivial for most people, and it is indeed just a number, but it's the principal of the matter and what that number represents. We've just been given the proverbial middle finger by SL and frankly, I expected better from them. Much better.
I won't lie, my faith in this game has been tested, and I'm seriously considering jacking it in altogether.