A few thoughts on open deliberations.
Folks that have been around awhile will recall just how secretive the TalkBoard used to be. There was a gag order in effect, no TalkBoard member could discuss any issue that was currently under consideration, at all. So no engagement of the community.
And internally, the TalkBoard had formal procedures such that any motion had to be made and then debated in a dedicated thread, and that could only happen once the TalkBoard President posted that thread, and there were significant constraints even on deliberating.
And back in late 2003 when missydarlin and I were first elected to the TalkBoard we pretty much changed that. We rode hard on the internal procedures and pushed for new procedures and the TalkBoard is much more open and equally importantly each TalkBoard member has the ability to have a clear voice both inside the TalkBoard and with the community.
We've changed the way we've done things over time, something I've been a part of, and now we clearly let members know what items are under discussion (our procedures do carve out an exception for confidential items brought to us by Randy, a very rare thing) and we report back on our decisions and have created a dedicated forum for those announcements. Each member's vote is clearly recorded as well.
I don't think it's a good idea to open the private TalkBoard forum for all to read, I believe that members would be more 'on stage' and posing for the community rather than productively and genuinely deliberating.
At the same time, I have no concerns about any of my own individual posts. I am as careful as possible to pass the Wall Street Journal test, how would any post I make look if it appeared the next day on the front page of the Journal? And I can't tell you the number of times I write a post and then exit the window before hitting submit.
