Punki, Koko,

TalkBoard operates under guidelines which it, itself, established. These guidelines were approved by a 2/3rds vote and can only be changed by a 2/3rds vote.

During my first year on TB, we passed a motion called "Removal of the Quiet Period". Unfortunately, the links on Town Hall do not work so I can't access the motion but you can research it on the private TB Forum (indeed, it might be helpful if you were to repost it here).

In that motion, we specifically said that any member was free to post publicly what he said in the private forum. This does not, of course, give him the freedom to repeat what others say. If I recall correctly (and I might be wrong on this point) we made an exception for comments in direct response to issues raised by Randy.

(Come to think of it, I believe I am confusing that last point on pre-publication of votes asked for by Randy, which was a separate motion.)

In short, if an issue was not raised by Randy (and possibly even it was) you would not be in violation of TB rules if you were to state your own opinion on it -- or even repost what you said on the private channel.

I can not understand, therefore, how you could be in violation of any rules if you restrict what you post here to your own comments and not say what others might have said/posted.

Indeed, even the TB President does not have the right under the guidelines to stop you from doing so.

Koko, you said that this has to be a "collective decision". While I disagree with that, even if it were true a "collective decision" means a vote. Is such a vote in progress? If so, why has it not been announced on TB Topics per TalkBoard's guidelines?