Yes, it is only about providing an outlet for those that no longer own pods but still want to hang out here. I've lost count of the number of posts and IMs that say "we've sold our pod and I'm sorry we need to leave the forum". We tell them they can stay and many have.
No worries about expressing your opinion, Bob. Remember this forum was started because of censorship (and the denials it was occuring) on the other pod forum. We've always pledged to maintain a venue that was free of that.
As for critical information, that can be posted in multiple areas and even converted to a forum-wide annoucement if necessary (like the few posts you see at the very top of every sub-forum). The "pod manual" thread is a candidate for that, hadn't thought of that before. And, those w/o pods are welcome to read what is posted in this sub-forum, too, like Tars.