new people dont look at the options here, aka...private forums. i hope hes still figuring out how to do it.

His response to me was to try it and see what happens within the private forum area. I wanted this to be general discussion also.
So if you find this forum useful, let Adam know about it!

butthead

I think that the original goal of categorizing posts into separate forums is still a good one. Wing Nights have become such a large part of the community here that it deserves that status.

But I don't think it's just this particular "private" forum. The very nature of how these extra forums are created and invite folks to "join" them make them semi-invisible to all users, not just new folks. Sort of a "secret handshake" sort of a feel when it is actually anything BUT that. My own usual approach involves opening a number of forums at once in browser tabs without even going to the main Messageboard page, so I have to remind myself to go out to the group list once in a while to see if someone started up something new.

Actually, it's sort of amusing to see the links that show up in the "private" forums that point to ongoing threads in Listening Post or other "public" spaces, when it would make more sense to be the other way around. TB spent some time cherry-picking "Cool spots in canoe country" from various threads and pointing to them from that "private" space and it's a nice collection but I'm not sure how many folks even see it.

My suggestion would be to have the group list seen here appear at the bottom of the main BWCA Messageboard page, underneath the message 'View Other Public Special Interet Groups and Private Groups Open for Application,' (eliminating the link) with fonts and links for those forums that look just like the forums above it. Bring them "out of the closet," so to speak.

But, of course, it's not my web site.

Hey Adam, I use it. :)

Good idea Jan... This should be viewable to everyone or we're going to have to resort to just posting in listening point everytime and that's what I thought this was supposed to replace.