Eli - Getting rid of ports?

Hi Kris and Allan,

I ran across a posting on the FreeBSD sub-reddit
(https://www.reddit.com/r/FreeBSD) where someone claimed they were
planning on getting rid of the ports entirely and that everyone should
use packages.Is this something the Core team planning? This is one of
the great features of FreeBSD when the default software for packages
will not work for you. I feel this is one of the best features of
FreeBSD.

Here's the posting for your reference:
https://www.reddit.com/r/freebsd/comments/4kxyx1/newbie_having_trouble_using_tree_command/

I would like confirmation if this is in the works and if there's a
replacement or we'll just have to track projects ourselves?

Thanks,

Eli