Its true that there are a few non-staff members who have access to the staff forums. They are all former mods or admins who held their positions for a considerable period of time. Not every former staff member has access, and having access is based on admin discretion.
We allow certain people access because their knowledge and experiences benefit our discussions. Just because someone is no longer staff doesn't mean they can't help by sharing ideas or that they don't know what's popping. Their experiences don't all of a sudden go out the window.
A lot of our discussions on rules and policies are things that affect everyone on the site....and to be quite honest, EVERYONE should have a voice and a say. Sometimes, depending on what it is, we do post these questions in General Talk and attach a poll without necessarily revealing that it is related to a staff discussion. There are discussions we have where The more voices the better, and there are discussions we have that we don't want everyone to have access to because sensitive info might come up (like someone's IP address)....which is why everyone doesn't have access to the staff forums. The staff serves as a microcosm of the site in general and often speak on behalf of other members or communicate the concerns of members to admin. As far as Bleu is concerned, Yes he does have access to the staff forum, and he has contributed a lot of ideas that have benefited the site as a whole. Him having access is something that helps, not something that hurts.
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