Private board?

[KittyGurl]

I think nobody can just get to use the private board. You should be a member for a certain number of weeks or a certain number of posts. OR Karen could get to decide who gets to go in the private board.

[sweetpatata6]

I think nobody can just get to use the private board. You should be a member for a certain number of weeks or a certain number of posts. OR Karen could get to decide who gets to go in the private board.

That's a good idea, but I think it'd get confusing

[Alysser]

That's a good idea but also a bad one at the same time. While we'd all feel more comfortable posting pictures of ourselves or family and other personal issues, there are some things to take into consideration. If you have to wait a certain # of months then someone who is a weirdo can just wait until their account is old enough and just go on the private board without caring about anything else on the forum such as pictures, debates, and general forums. If you have to wait till you have a certain # of posts, well I don't think that would be fair, because as buckner pointed out, some TRUSTED people don't post as much and such. As Kay, said anyone can register. So, there are some things to consider. While it is a good idea, it can be negative one as well.

[SemaviLady]

If you have to wait a certain # of months then someone who is a weirdo can just wait until their account is old enough and just go on the private board without caring about anything else on the forum such as pictures, debates, and general forums. If you have to wait till you have a certain # of posts, well I don't think that would be fair, because as buckner pointed out, some TRUSTED people don't post as much and such.

Actually, PHP boards can be managed to allow certain hidden forums to have handpicked members.

In other words it need not be automated by the following criteria:
1) A certain number of posts or
2) age of the PT member's account.

It can be done by election which can be arranged according to chosen design.

For example, think of moderators and members the same way: Admins generally hand pick their moderators. By Administrative decree, not all moderators necessarily ever see all the chats on a board and some mods sometimes only get to moderate one chat, none of the others. Mods see extra 'buttons' to edit or manage each posting and regular chat member's postings in THEIR own modding area. But not in others.

Extending the example, we could call this special chat area the "PT-Family" forum. Newbies logging in have no idea that the forum exists unless they pick up hints or it is broadcasted somewhere. They simply cannot join the "PT-Family" GROUP until they have earned it and been elected into the group.

Some of the regular mods may not have access to PT-Family forum! Nor even know that it exists.

The Admin could select a couple mods, specifically for the PT-Family forum. These two or three mods (3 - so votes can have a majority) can elect to allow certain chat members to be admitted into the PT-Family area. This way friendly lurkers, the great old timers, certain likeable PT people that show up at real life PT-inspired regional playdates and other select folk can voted into to the hidden "PT-Family" GROUP. A code of ethics could be set up so that members of the group help maintain the high caliber of the "PT-Family" forum.

Security... If the mods think that an account has been hacked, they can delete the posts and arrange to have the account banned from the forum til the real owner comes back with a more secure set up.

It's very flexible. But it does depend on the alpha-admins to decide if it will be created and who will be the administrator for that group. It could be an administrative headache.

We do have to be realistic. Nothing is ever really secure. What about sheer numbers? What if there are 150 members of the "PT-Family" GROUP - maybe 300 members? Do you really trust that many virtual people?

Hope this isn't confusing.

[Kalei]

What if you had a private board where you could put a thread up but only the people on your buddy list could see?

I wonder what Karen thinks about a private forum?

[KittyGurl]

What if you had a private board where you could put a thread up but only the people on your buddy list could see?

Thats a good idea, but most of the people on my buddy list never come on. Only two people on my buddy list come on. This could also be bad too. A wacked up person could just let everyone on their buddy list and you won't even know! They could have every single member on their buddy list.
On another forum I'm in, if you want to put someone on your buddy list, the admin sends a request saying "bla bla wants to be your buddy. Do you accept?" If you accept then they are added to your buddy list.

[CathyBogart]

I'm part of one board where you have to pay a small fee to see their 'private' boards. I know that's WAY more work than Karen and Paul need, so it's not a suggestion, just me throwing out random stuff.

It works pretty well for that board and helps pay for their bandwidth. That board is another close-knit family, so I think new people paying for "platinum" membership need to be approved through a mod.

[Hellow]

I like that idea BUT how about that some people can't pay for that? I know that it was just a random suggestion but just giving you some facts. Also, how about the idea of having to know your regular PT username and password AND a special password only known by trusted pt people so that they can see the "special" parts of a form?

[Jessika]

Also, how about the idea of having to know your regular PT username and password AND a special password only known by trusted pt people so that they can see the "special" parts of a form?

This was confusing at first, but I think I understand what you're saying now -- meaning, a password would be required to have access to the private forum? That's not such a bad suggestion. But I know with vBulletin you can create "groups", and allow certain groups certain access to places, permissions, etc. I think that would be the best option in this case, Karen could hand-pick and manually allow people access, etc, regardless of how many posts they have or how long they have been a member.

[Karen]

I don't really see a need for a private forum, as we do have Private Messages. Anything you want to share with just a few members you can "group PM" people, 5 at a time, at your own discretion, and then no one could see it but those people. That's more secure than a forum.

[KittyGurl]

I'm part of one board where you have to pay a small fee to see their 'private' boards.

But some people won't be able to pay for it. My dad and mom won't let me pay and some other people won't pay either so that's kinda not fair.

[Randi]

Karen, I agree with that. Sending PM's to your closest friends will work just fine.

If someone wants to chat, they can set up a private chatforum. I did that a few years ago. You can invite anyone you like to join.

[Kirsten]

I would have liked the idea. Sometimes I would like to discuss things that are private, and that I wouldn't want to be read by... let's say co-workers. And after all, you can find the PT threads via search engines, like Google, so it's easy to find what a certain person has written when you search for it.

I don't mean to exclude any PT-members, but I'm not comfortable with the thought that people who know me IRL are lurking. That's why I would have like a private forum for the more private subjects.

Kirsten

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

I agree with Karen too! I have been a member of a forum with private section some years ago. That private section was no good at all, as some members seemed to find it necessary to gossip about other members...
Private messaging is the best!!!

[dukedogsmom]

What does everyone think about an area specifially for mom/kids, other than the general area? I've seen it done on other boards with success. That way, they could still talk to fellow PTers but have their own separate area.