Could the family forum be moved to a 'members only' area?

[a mere housewife]

I hate to make a suggestion that makes more work -- it's already so much to keep up with (Thank you!). But I think most of us assume the family forum *is* a members only area, and in the nature of the subject, we post more sensitive things there. But it's visible before you log in.

 

[NaphtaliPress]

It's not listed under members only and never has been for its life of 38 pages of threads under that present location. I think as with all the public forums one should use prudence. If we need a new members only forum for specific family issues rather than general topics that are not meant to share personal information, we can consider that. Someone suggest a name to distinguish it and we can also make a note in the forum descriptions to make sure the distinction between the two forums. I.e., if you have something more than a general topic that is personal, post to xyz family forum in the members only forum.

 

[G]

Sensitive Family Forum

Touchy Family Matters

Private Family Scenarios

Keep it Secret, Keep it Safe Family Forum

 

[Jack K]

Family concerns are one of the providences God often uses to get people interested in Christ or in better churches, so I think there's benefit to allowing the outside world look in on our conversations about family in most cases. That's not to say a private option is necessarily a bad idea, but I also appreciate the fact that the main family forum is a public one.

 

[a mere housewife]

Oh, I think this came up a few years ago (probably because of me -- I have lots of memories over the years of asking Ruben about threads that appear in the public area of the board that contain family sensitive information, and it turns out people did not actually want it public). At that time there was the same consensus about it being a good thing to have a public family section, and the training children forum was created in the members only area. There are more family-sensitive issues than fall under that category, but I forgot that I already raised this one -- sorry. ( Calvin, Augustine, Edwards, Owen, and Bunyan also apologise.)

 

[ZackF]

The coffee shop forum is what I use for more private posts.

 

[a mere housewife]

Me too, Zack.

(Please know that I tried to put the divines above six spaces apart, so that they don't spread the corona virus, but they just keep smushing back together automatically .... tsk tsk.)

 

[Pilgrim]

If someone doesn't want it public, the admins can move a thread to the coffee shop. Often they use their judgment to do that when posts of a personal nature are made even if it isn't requested by the original poster. I'm sure if there is something in particular you or someone else has in mind, it can be looked at and possibly moved no matter how old it is.

As you know, in general, no one should assume that any internet communication is absolutely private no matter what the rules of a particular forum or site are. To be sure, it is more private to have a forum that can't be reached by normal searches on Google or Facebook. But there's nothing stopping members of a forum from copying and disseminating the posts. And there's often nothing stopping forum owners from changing private forums into public ones at some point in the future.

 

[NaphtaliPress]

I'm not getting the sense we need to do anything on this. Two forums even with instructions, and I know how well members read instructions is going just confuse things.

 

[a mere housewife]

Yes, I forgot we'd discussed it before, come to similar conclusions, and created a specific member's only forum for some of the sensitive topics. Sorry for rehashing! (Over the years this forum has proved an easier one to post something that wasn't really intended for the general public and had to get moved -- I thought it might simplify that bit for the moderators ultimately -- but there is no way to avoid that probably, since it's good to have a public family forum.)