When you have sections that only certain members can access, do you "tease" the users who don't have access to it by showing the forum section but marking it as "Private" and viewers get the "no permission" error when trying to view it?
If I wanted to be mean, then yes, I'd do this. I don't feel the need to "flaunt" these individual sections to the "general" public - if they want to access them, they'll need to meet the appropriate requirements before being able to do so.
I do not do this since its no need for they that do not have permission to see that it even exist. I did however create an forum and had it private before just to joke with the members. It was no post in it since nobody could see any threads in it or create new.
Not very private if you show them. Someone will come along and see it and try to hack into it if you show it anyway. Unnecessary load and problems.
I might do this for a Premium Member's forum, to make people wonder what they're missing. Would never do it for other forums; why tempt members?
I have never done it in the past, but I think this is something I will do on my latest project. I currently have it so they will see 'Private' on the forum homepage. Hopefully it'll make the curious about the content inside (because the names of these forums should be pretty intriguing alone).
In the VIP section - everyone can see the section and the thread title, just not the content of the threads. In the moderators section - nobody sees that expect for moderators.
I actually increased supporting members on one of my sites doing this. Additionally, in the forum description, I linked to the paid subscription page and it has worked out well for me. However, I tried this on a second site and it didn't make no difference. In the end, it comes down to whether your users feel that your product warrants forking over their hard earned coin or not.
I have a large section that is for flooring professionals only and all other forums are open to all. I allow all to see the forums and read the subject titles in order to attract the pros. If they can't see what they are missing, they don't think they are missing anything. The notices system of my vBulletin forum let people know what's up. I have a number of competitors, some very busy. None of the competitors has private forums (except for staff forums), so everything a pro discusses is open to scrutiny by the consumer. My philosophy is, if you don't invite the customers to your company meetings, then there must be somethings about your business you want kept confidential. It works. Jim
no, members cant see the sections for staff, but a few weeks ago we created a suprise section....that said "secret forum" "this will open any day now" and it kept members asking about it and checking in each day to see whether it was open!!! its opened now, and it is the christmas section!
Nope. We don't have Premium Memberships, because we don't believe in seperating our userbase. If a user donates, they get a few gifts but no premium membership. Occasionally I hand out Beta memberships to certain members, so they can test new features. But that's it.
