Bear, thank you for taking the lead in opening this topic. A few thoughts:
Personally, I always thought restricting posting was a bad idea. I understand the extreme challenges that led to the decision but it made the board an exclusive location for experts to discuss companies and firmly moved away from the learning environment of the early years.
You mention you can still “Request Ability to Post”. However, it is worth noting that there is no way to view that link on a mobile device, no hint that it exists. The entire right side “Announcements” section is visible only from a desktop computer. I am not certain what tools are available to board admins, but that information would be far more useful in a pinned post.
In addition to this, I would guess this board in its current format must seem a bit intimidating to the novice with all the posts coming from experts. The Rules of the Board state that this board is primarily a place for “discussion and analyzing of individual high-growth companies”. How is the novice supposed to join in such a discussion?
Thinking on the above, I suggest deciding no what we want this board to look like moving forward before deciding if the board should be opened for anyone to post. Is this a learning environment or a place for experts? How open are we to discussing Saul’s investing style with people who have a different perspective on investing?
My own take on those decisions: I would love to see the board return to an open learning environment similar to the 2014-2019 era yet that would require people with the dedication and patience to sharing their expertise. If that ideal does not happen, I suggest doing whatever it takes to ensure this board remains active. Depending on what moderation tools are available on the TMF forums, that may require a bit of experimentation with different rules and posting restrictions to find a reasonable balance. I will remain a part of this community no matter what happens though my posts will be rare as I frequently prefer to ignore anything on the internet.
To comment briefly on TMF vs Reddit: I dislike both equally and accept both as necessary evils. Reddit has better threading capabilities for long discussions while TMF forums have superior editing for long format posts. Either is a reasonable choice. TMF forums have the benefit of both the history on this board and the direct relevance to the wider community.