2.) I think the idea of a "council" to help direct the direction of BlackCoin is not a bad idea. Even to offer reasonable predictions is also not a bad idea if done right.
I want to elaborate more on #2. The past several days our community have come together and came up with some great ideas. We have been working together to improve BlackCoin. We have some very smart people here from different backgrounds and cultures. The devs can only be expected to do so much, we as a community have to pitch in. So for example a "council" can be formed to help fund projects, suggest new features to the devs, work on PR...etc..etc.
That being sad, when you have a group of people with different ideas..etc..etc it usually falls apart
