just want to chime in that i really preferred omni as a private forum. i'm neither as prolific nor as articulate as some of the other posters, but i'm very disappointed that this change wasn't discussed beforehand. one of the things i liked about omni was that i felt it was a community of people who'd 'been here awhile,' and that gave it a feeling of security that it no longer has, frankly (at least not for me).
thanks for listening.