It's simple, really.

If I say it in public, you may repeat it and attribute it to me; if I say it in private, you may not (unless you get my permission.)

The chatterbox is public just as nodes are.

A private message is not.

It is our responsibility to be careful what we say before we say it. It is not everyone else's responsibility to shield us from the repercussions after the fact.

I don't understand the confusion over this. I don't think any monk should have the expectation that what he says in the CB won't be repeated. The reality is that you don't know who is listening and you don't have any recourse if it is repeated.

Furthermore, I don't think there is anything respectable about the behavior of a monk that says something stupid in the CB and then complains when it is repeated. We should all take responsibility for our words. If we say something we later regret, we can recant, apologize, and remind people that we did so as often as is necessary. What we can't do is go back in time and change it.

Lastly, we would all do well not to take ourselves or others too seriously. We all say stupid things once in a while. So what? If someone says something stupid and then they recant and apologize, give them some slack (that's "the benefit of the doubt" for everyone not accustomed to my american slang.) Keep it in mind that next time it might be you in the hot seat. We are all human afterall.

Update: Regarding context: we may expect to be taken out of context too. If that happens and we are confronted with such a situation, we can attempt to explain the original context. As a practical matter though, it will happen on occasion. We should consider that risk when we choose how to phrase things and if we find that risk to be of great concern, we can choose not to publicy air our thoughts.

When quoting others, it is responsible to preserve the original meaning as we understand it. Again, however, as matter of practicality, some will, some won't, and some will try but misunderstand us anyway.

-sauoq
"My two cents aren't worth a dime.";