Password Required Areas

[Reverie]

Have you ever participated in a forum that required a password to get into a particular area? Have you had this on your forum? One time with clubs we had it, just thought it would be kinda cool to have their own area and be able to participate with one another in "secret" lol.

I remember one of my first forums the VIP area was password protected. It always sucked when the browser forgot the password and I had to remember what it was again.

Is there a benefit to this?

 

[Cedric]

It’s something exclusive and exclusivity has always been a demanding thing. People like exclusive things because it often makes them feel better and more rewarding if that makes sense.

I remember I started having password protected forums on IPB 1.3 with the IBStore plugin. It never really contained much more than spam though.

 

[Arantor]

I did many years ago - there was a forum for a comic I followed (i.e. the artist and friends) and I ended up becoming one of them. They had a board for the various online games they played, where you could discuss guild stuff in those games since the group tended to play together. You join the guild in game, they share the password for the forum there, job done.

Made it easier to manage than anything else, I think.

Man that was some time ago. That was before XenForo existed and vB 3 was still the faithful go-to.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I've only lurked on forums that had specific forums that were password protected. These were often general chat forums that had separate areas for men and women. I've never had password protected forums on any of my sites.

 

[Clarice]

I've seen people who used password-protected forums to post x-rated content which I honestly frown on. I don't feel that type of stuff is needed on any site or forum.

 

[Cory]

I wouldn't personally use a password-protected forum because I'm afraid someone may leak the password. I would rather put members in their own user group and depend on permission masks to show them forums others cannot view.