I love this forum, as well, and am extremely happy to see that it has grown so much. I have been visiting this sub-forum for a little over 6 years, and the amount of information and visitors here have made some great strides.
I can appreciate why some FFS discussion groups may be private (e.g. Yahoo), but I think having an informative, public space like this one is all too important for anyone looking for the information. I really wish that this forum was here, the way it is now, when I first started looking for information -- it would have saved me so much stress!