Not only that, people ask very pointed and potentially embarrassing questions at company meetings. Everything is in the open at Mozilla.
After spending more than a decade and a half in corporate America, it's very, very refreshing.
As a long-time lurker but new user, I see little reason to ever even attempt to participate on a forum with moderation rules like this.
This may be speculation but I'm guessing many others would make the same cost/benefit analysis.
tptacek is exactly right. Not to put words in his mouth, but "nothing more than" is your characterization of what he said as opposed to what he actually said.
The history tptacek is describing goes back to the 1980s: use your favorite search engine to look for the name "Richard Sanzda" for a poignant example.