Also just to reply to myself to add more context:
This "slack Ned was excluded from" was free for anyone to join for the longest period of time. Only after the point where Ned went on the offensive, were links removed and Steemit Inc employees not allowed access.
Fun fact: the entire reason the slack was created was because we (witnesses) needed a place we could talk with one of the top 20 witnesses. The reason we couldn't talk to him in the Steemit Inc paid-for slack was because Ned banned him for talking about another project he worked on, provided no explanation, and then days (weeks?) later he restored his access. As witnesses we needed a place, for emergencies, that we were all available and could communicate. So we created a new (free) slack community.
The fun fact is correct. However, the ban of the top 20 witness was not clearly "for talking about another project". In fact it was abrupt and done without any explanation at all (as far as I know, to this day there still has not been one).
It put the Steem blockchain at risk (granted small risk in practice since it was only one witness) because of the inability of an elected top 20 witness to communicate with the developer team in the event of chain emergencies (malfunction, critical vulnerability, etc.) which has happened before and required coordination between these parties to address.
I believe my assumption as to the reason was based on a statement (likely speculation) made by the individual who was banned.
Though you're absolutely right, we have no idea why. Thanks for the correction.
who was banned and on which project was he working?
also why did never a new community driven chain start? as you've stated it was not ment to be an on-chain solution..
and now steem is not interesting anymore..?