I think if it would be important for me to NOT notice Esther's character Silhar would drop a note, or just tell Esther to not 'reveal' his presence in IC thread yet. I suppose that every fact that is mentioned in IC thread is possibly known by my character, and it is my decision if my character knows it or not, unless I am told otherwise. And I tend to decide this on the fly.
A character sheet would be of use for me. As said, it's not like there is major secret info there. And you can always spoiler it.