Doesn't that sort of negate or skew the results?
No, it's fine.
I particularly liked the diversity of the tangencial subjects discussed in the thread so, in consciousness, I can't vote for any of those three options. Not even in the slight expectation that a new moderator will be flexible about its rules or banning will occur only in very extreme and blatant cases. That'd be cheating. If any of those options are chosen and, for any reason, the offtopics continue we will be again at this point.
Since option 1 is in the lead, I already wrote a draft of a policy change for that one, possibly addressing your concerns:
The Wall Observer is now owned by the forum. The listed owner is responsible for maintaining it. If the owner fails to maintain it (ie. I start getting too many complaints), then they will be replaced.
The thread is exempt from the following rules from the perspective of bitcointalk.org mods:
- Off-topicness (in relation to either Speculation or the topic itself).
- Double-posting etc., within reason.
(The thread owner can and should enforce those rules to some degree, however.)
A warning will show up about the above rule exemptions when you try to report a post in the thread.
Signatures won't show up in the thread anymore.