It seems as though some folks here misread the OP and think Psymple was complaining about metagaming.
Hes not, he's saying get over it.
And I agree heartily.
He's right, the forums enrich the RP.
All 'comms' (even the 'encrypted' ones) should be available to anyone who, for example, wants to know what the Junkers are up to.
All players should be able to read the comms, the inter-faction chatter, etc.
It adds depth, back-story, and reason.
It's literally "the Story of Discovery", if you read as much as you can, your understanding will grow exponentially.
But will this info get used to meta-game?
Sure will! - that's the nature of the human brain, always looking for the right tool for a job.
As Psymple stated, the other option is to keep all comms private thru skype or such.
Then noone would know what the heck is happening around Sirius. No thanks.
So, yup, metagaming is gonna happen.
Get over it.
Whining about it (or spending your time trying to 'bust' people for it) is just asinine, and a waste of your time and energy.
It'll also eat you up with spite and anger, which in my estimation is a pretty lousy way to play this game.