Southperry Logo Contest Voting!

On the contrary. Extractors aren't a particularly big thing in MS. In fact, I suspect most players wouldn't recognize one if they saw it. You're also right that we never mention them on SP.
However, Extractions are very central to SP. Unlike feathers which have nothing but tradition to tie them to the site.

I find #4 quite brilliant in both idea and execution. I like how it seems to retain all the fine details even at 16x16 (as opposed to #1 which becomes meaningless), and I understand that since the Maple Leaf being extracted has to be red, the rest of the color scheme is pretty much derived from that.

You make a good point about extractions. I didn't really think of it that way.

Honestly, though, if the first time I saw #4 was as 16x16, I probably wouldn't have a clue as to what it was. I can't say that with certainty, considering I look at it now and I can tell what it is, but it certainly wouldn't be an instant thought had I seen it at that size from the start. Hell, if someone showed me that icon out of the blue at that size I would blink a few times before I recognized what I was looking at even now.

As for #1 at the same size...you might not be able to immediately see the "SP" in it, but it still looks pretty decent, and the feather concept is still clearly shown.

I get that the feather isn't really anything other than a tradition to the site, but in that regard taking it away would kind of be like taking the Maple Leaf out of MapleStory and changing it to a Story Book because "Well, story is in the name". Yes, yes, not a perfect analogy.