Thanks for the response. I think that you guys really changed my mind on the private chat. I used to believe that it being read only should be enacted but when you said:

Oh, one other issue is that sometimes there are real security issues discussed in that channel (i.e. a zero-day bug that's not yet patched). There really needs to be a secure chat channel for such communication to prevent hackers from taking advantage of that kind of information before witnesses can coordinate to update their code.

I fully knew that keeping it private would be the best. I really like that you have the personnel and experience to keep the blockchain in a great state. And your site has been my favorite exchange for anything steem related. Thanks for your great work.