This is very interesting to read. For the paper you championed, was that discussion between you and the AC public, i.e. visible to authors? I had a similar experience from an author perspective. We had really constructive discussions with all the reviewers, and were fairly optimistic we'd get in, but then the meta-review was pretty disconnected from all of that. Unfortunately no idea what may have happened between AC and reviewers, so it's a bit of a mystery from our perspective. It's frustrating to have all these in-depth discussions, but then no opportunity to clear up even basic misunderstandings in the meta-review, where it actually matters. Having a discussion period with the AC would have made such a difference, and given the timeline it seems it would totally have been feasible.

Yes! (I meant to comment that decisions are out, not reviews - sorry.)

Decisions are out!