Although you planted the idea that anyone who might disagree is a troll, i will still point out that secret discussions between certian members does not look good, whatever the merits in this case.
Concensus is one thing but hidden discussions is quite another, and does not sit well with the notion that the group is inclusive.
Just saying, as I don't know the nature of the secret.
I had no intention of planting the idea that anyone who disagrees is a troll, I was referring to
actual trolls. People with malicious or mischievous intent who get other people upset and saying stupid things that can be taken out of context. Alternately a troll could be from the other side of a legal case, or a representative from Big Pharma/FDA/whatver trying to dig up dirt.
There's no hidden agenda, there's meeting you have with open doors and meetings you have with closed doors--you still keep records, but without a closed door you might not feel free to share unfinished work.
I wasn't referring to any particular secret, but the genesis of this point is a merchandising idea that I wanted to share with a few people but I didn't want it released to the public domain of the internet where anyone could simply steal it. It's unlikely the idea would ever be sold, but rather given away or simply discarded, but I wanted to reserve the right to make that decision later.
We have private messages on this site for the same reasons--not so that people can carry out nefarious or discriminatory goals, but simply because some things you just don't want to leave out in the open.
There's no dark secret, and just because some meetings might be held behind closed doors doesn't mean the doors are
locked.