Pros and Cons of Hidden Boards

[KELSEY'S GOT A GUN]

Hmm...interesting question. I've formed a Pro/Con list of my own.

• PROS
  
  • Can hide private discussion boards from certain member(s)
    
  • Can keep site looking neat, if there are many boards
    
  • Can prevent spamming/trolling on site
  
  
• CONS
  
  • Guests will not know what to expect, and may not like the outcome

All in all, I do not censor any boards at all on my site, because I do not really believe in censorship on certain topics.

[nina]

I have one general discussion board open to all, guests can post. A couple of ladies asked for a private board to discuss female interests regarding health, marriages, children. I decided to give them a completely separate forum. I didn't want the male members to have it in their face everyday there was gossip going on behind closed doors.

[Do Not Click]

I, personally, like to leave certain boards to where the guests can see that they're there, but not view the content inside. For instance, on a roleplay site, there is always some controversy about someone stealing a member's character and recreating it on a different site. Well, to fix that, I leave the character boards' content, along with graphics boards, non-viewable for guests. Other than that, I generally do not like to hide entire boards from guests.

[pumpkinpie]

I opened mine back up for public viewing.

[Little Devil]

On my board i have 2 boards hidden. ! is a staff board that is hidden from members and vistiors. The other one is a members only board were members can complain about anything they want, that way if they got any complains about the board at all vistoirs can't see it. i got a couple of board that vistiors can post in one is if they want to know anything about the forum before they join, the other one is a joke board.

I also hide profile from vistiors and I have it so no one can cut or copy anything from the boards.

[nina]

I also hide profile from vistiors and I have it so no one can cut or copy anything from the boards.

That is thoughtful. How do you do it?

[Wormopolis]

Mar 21, 2011 23:59:52 GMT -8 nina said:

I also hide profile from vistiors and I have it so no one can cut or copy anything from the boards.

That is thoughtful. How do you do it?

look in the [codedatabase] for all sorts of great codes to add.

[HoudiniDerek]

I think that hidden boards are fine if you have a good reason: The main reason is a Staff Board. The staff might discuss new events, additions, discipline problems, etc. That should remain private while a decision is being made or discussed. That is a good reason to have a board be private in my opinion.

On the other hand, I think hidden boards detract from membership. Why would you have just the GT section open? How does that get people interested in the real reason your forum exists? I know some people worry about their ideas being stolen, etc., but that could happen from actual members on the forum too. I think if you are willing to trust people that might stop by, you are better off. I think you close posting to guests overall, but not the entire forum...unless you want it to be members only and by invitation.

[..//Apoc\\..]

I only have a few boards that are hidden on my site, but only for certain reasons.

The character boards are hidden from the guest, so character biographies can't be copied and used on another site by unwanted people. The staff board is hidden to everybody but the staff, to keep any ideas and concerns hidden from others.

Some boards can be viewed as a guest, but if you click on them, it sends you automatically to the log in page. The Graphics Request, Archives, Gift Shop, and absences are all like that.

Everything else remains open to guest so they can see what the site is all about, without having anything stolen.

[Chatadi]

My forum is a photography forum and any areas where photos are posted are not accessible by guests, they can see they are there on the index page, but cannot view the photos. Everywhere else is open and there is a board where guests can post.

I also have it so that photos cannot be copied.

[Arcane]

Well, here's some PRO's:

• Hide private information
  
• Limit guest / certain member levels from seeing certain things
  
• Hide staff pages used for staff to discuss certain things
  

CON's:

• Makes people feel left out
  
• Limits guests to viewing the full site and how it works
  

[katrinajane]

On my forum guest can view all of the boards apart for one.
One of the boards is sharing mp3's and videos, which i don't really want guest to just be able to view and download them.
I have one general discussion board open to all and guests can post on there, so they don't entirely feel left out.

[Lolwut]

I favor guest friendly boards. I mean, let's say you have a roleplaying forum. Wouldn't you want the user to be able to explore and see what kind of roleplayers and rules and OOC the site has to offer? Or a coding forum? Wouldn't you want the guest to be able to see the kinds of codes that are made on the site? Or would you want a member to register and then be inactive because they don't like what they see? I'm sure there's some sort of flaws in this post, but it's just my opinion. The only Hidden Boards should maybe be Password Protected Forums.

[Kyla]

Hi,

I think having boards hidden on your sites (especially RPG ones) are especially annoying and irritating. I think it drives potential members away, because it means hiding things an it makes the site look very desperate for members. Because, honestly, everyone knows that if you hide boards and make members join means that the staff is desperate for members. I mean, really, if you were to visit a site on PB because you're interested in joining, would you want some of the boards to be hidden, and you would have to join? To add on to what I'm saying, hiding certain boards could possibly mean that your site contains viruses. I know this is a bit of a stretch, but think about it: when you hide boards on your site, doesn't it seem like you're hiding something?

-- KYLA

[Arcane]

I know I've already replied to this question, but I feel I need to update it:

I have certain boards hidden on my site but I also have a board dedicated just to guests. I suppose they're not really hidden but just hidden from certain levels of users. Actually, I hide the entire category. Once they join, the guest board disappears so members can't spam it. Then it reappears once you are promoted to a certain level of staff. In that board, I have a thread made to tell guests about my site. I also tell them that by joining, they get access to other boards. That way, they don't feel like I'm hiding so much from them. I also explain how the site works. If you want proof, here is the url:

Removed URL, not really necessary here and would be advertising - Trublu