Suggestion: Private members section.

[Breathe]

I would like to suggest there be one section of the forum that is private. After you reach a certain post count, (or perhaps being referred by a known poster, PM'ing proof of being a legit therapist to a trusted mod, or ? ) you have access to this section.

Reason I bring this up now... I just want to say that it has nothing to do with what is going on around here right now. I have a client that received some terrible information this week, and I need to talk about it, but I don't feel comfortable doing so on a public area of the board.

The one downside of a private forum is that a few new posters will sometime artificially inflate their count by posting a bunch of one-word or smiley posts, so they can get in. Maybe there's another practical way to limit member access? I don't know. Not thinking too clearly this morning. It's shocking how attached we get to the long-term regulars, isn't it?

[maestra]

Sorta miss having a chat feature, huh?

[AnastasiaB]

That sounds like a nice idea - a safe place for discussion of delicate issues.....

Thanks for coming up with it Stacey.

[Breathe]

Yeah, chat would be nice too, but I know how difficult the programming is for a good one, plus they are an expensive add-on.

I'm better now, talked with my biz partner and blew off a little stress. Still think a private section would be nice.

[superspagirl]

one board I am on has a trading post area where you can buy, sell, or trade different things. Anyway, they have post count and length of time as a registered memebr count before you can get in and post or even view it. Could it be something like that here? Where after say 6 months and X amount of posts you can enter the private area.

[Shannon]

I am for it as well. The only problem I fore see is clients getting to that X post and/or length of time.

From what I am gathering Breathe is saying itwould be for MT's only. Reason I say that is the mention of an instance with a client of hers and didn't want it out in the open. I am assuming she would mean clients as well.

[makingachange]

i can see where this could be a beneficial and "safe" place. not that BWOL isn't safe, but like you said, it is public.

maybe the best way would be for it to be invitation-only? that seems to me (and i don't know much about online communities) to be the only way that it could be totally regulated. a moderator would have to let you in.

but that would be a great deal more work for the moderators..

i'm interested to see how this develops. great idea - and i hope you're finding some peace with the information you received today.

i also had a situation earlier this month, stacey, that i wanted so desperately to post about. but i knew it was too public of a place, and i just didn't feel safe doing it. a private location would be a good thing.

amanda

[Shannon]

I am for the invitation only. When it/if its started Admin lets people in by invite only. Once say 5-10 members are in place then maybe a vote to let someone in? Everyone would get a chance to say yes or no and why either way, majority rules.

[Intuitouch]

Setting up a private forum is fairly easy to do actually. Creating a usergroup that allows only approved members to post and view it is also easy.

The hard part is setting the parameters to allow viewing and posting.

I am not opposed to an MT section only.

I'm curious about the following:

Would students qualify?

How would one verify that the poster is truly an MT?

Will it be limited to discussing only certain topics so much of what gets discussed publically would not get posted privately?

[Shannon]

I would say in the beginning no to students. Maybe down the road yes but at first see how it goes.

[seekingequanimity]

How would one verify that the poster is truly an MT?

I think it's a good idea, but that ^ was the first thing that popped into my head.

Noel

[StressSolutions]

I would say in the beginning no to students. Maybe down the road yes but at first see how it goes.

We've got students as moderators...

[palpable]

I would say in the beginning no to students. Maybe down the road yes but at first see how it goes.

We've got students as moderators...

Not to mention that students see clients on a regular basis, too, either in clinics or in practice sessions- and lots of funky things can happen there, too.

While I certianly understand not wanting to post some things in public, my concern with a private area would be that a lot of valuable info might get "hidden" from the general view.

[BJB-LMP]

I think a vote of those already "in" is unnecessary - just have an admin allow access, plus x amount of time on the board & x # of posts (doesn't have to be many - 40 or 50?). I've been an MT a long time and wouldn't have a problem w/students coming in, once they've started their program.

I'm also not too worried about verifying that someone is really an MT. If people are really trying that hard to impersonate an MT, we've got trouble anyway, right?

It's true that some info might only be found in the private area, but -- if all board-active MTs and students who have some longevity here can access it, then that shouldn't be a problem. I've seen private areas work really well on message boards. I'm for it.

[BackrubMonster]

Another forum that I frequent does have a restricted area that is only accessible with a 200-post count - non-forum-subject-matter-chatterbox, a buy/sell/trade section (it's not public due to spammers), etc. It is specified in Board Rules (which are publicly accessible) that any apparent purposeful 'inflation' of post counts in order to get to the restricted area is not allowed; however, this as well as a vote-in process could be seen as fairly subjective if judged by mods only. I haven't spoken up in recent mod-power-issue threads because one way or another, someone has already posted my pov; I'm just wondering if a subjective slant on any restricted access could cause more problems?

I'd back the post-count + time-since-joining matrix as a way of setting things. The post-count measure would ensure the poster's content relevance/non-troll-ness as a whole (and maybe give a good idea of the poster's maturity and capability to handle sensitive matters in the private section) and the time-since-joining measure would discourage post-count inflation..

jmo

might be easier than tracking license/cert #s, too (plus I'm technically an unlicensable student for one more month, have mercy! lol. I would like to be part of the private forum not because I'm nosy, but because I'm sincerely interested in knowing what kinds of things come up with clients and how they are dealt with - I know that I will inevitably have some emotional ties to my clients, as my caring and wanting people to feel better is what got me here in the first place.)

[makingachange]

curious, is there a way to keep clients in the clients/hobbyist section only? i've not understood why they have access to the MT side anyway.

i've been thinking about this again. wondering how the mods are coming with the suggestion (as if you don't have enough on your plates, sorry!)

amanda

[Masthera]

curious, is there a way to keep clients in the clients/hobbyist section only? i've not understood why they have access to the MT side anyway.

i've been thinking about this again. wondering how the mods are coming with the suggestion (as if you don't have enough on your plates, sorry!)

amanda

Amanda, no there is no way to keep the clients in the client section. You would have to make all registered members unable to go to the other sections of the board. There isn't a way to separate the clients out of that group. At least not to my knowledge. If I am incorrect, please correct me.

Intuitouch is weeding through the requests. We should have an answer for you soon.

[melb]

Special areas are all well and good and would not have to be publicised if it was invite only - if you are logged in and able to access the area it is one of the areas you see, if you are logged in and not allowed to access the area, you don't see it, you don't know what you are missing.

The only thing would be to remind people that could get into some special area not to talk about it outside the special area (upset the people that couldn't access it). Which sounds easy enough in theory, until someone gets their nose out of place and runs all over the rest of the board carrying on about "there is an area you don't know about", which is exactly what happened with the moderators section of the board, those mere mortals that have never been moderators didn't know about the moderators section, but people that were moderators at one point felt they should alert everyone to the fact there was a special area, where people could discuss things that non-moderators weren't allowed to see, and my goodness, didn't that upset some people?? And yes, that was moderators and mere mortals, but special area and mere mortals would be the same us/them when it came out. I am sure a good number of people let into the special area would be mods, and it would end up being a defacto mod section (even though the topics wouldn't be mod related) adding even more fuel to the us/them.
Up until a month or so ago, I would've said, 'yeah, we're all grown ups and could be trusted', but after recent events????????

[dodab]

I am sure a good number of people let into the special area would be mods, and it would end up being a defacto mod section (even though the topics wouldn't be mod related) adding even more fuel to the us/them.
Up until a month or so ago, I would've said, 'yeah, we're all grown ups and could be trusted', but after recent events????????

I would have to agree here. Under certain circumstances (such as the mod responsiblities) there should be a place where discussion of problematic issuses needs to be discussed. However, exclussion of others "just because" isn't right no matter how you cut it.

[BJB-LMP]

Hey, did this idea ever come to fruition? Some things have been happening lately in my practice that I'd just feel better discussing a little more "privately," and it reminded me that we had been discussing this last summer. Now that all that furor is old news, what did we decide?

[Pandoras_Gift]

It was in discussion, I don't even know why it didn't happen, I think there was just too much going on at that time. Even so, it will again be discussed, I don't see a problem, I just have to figure out the particulars... Intuitouch posted positively about it, but with questions... so we will figure it out...

[fudja / aka Greatlakes]

What about a live chat room?? You could invite certain people, and they could chat live. The chat need not be saved like a message board does.

[Shannon]

That was discussed to at one point and I thought it was suppose to happen before the switch over but not quite sure what happened with that either.

[IntuitiveHealers]

I think a private area sounds great but here's a question that crossed my mind in addition to those already mentioned: I am a "Professional Therapist" who lurks a lot and posts only occasionally...Where would people like me fit in?

[boofdorf]

I am a "Professional Therapist" who lurks a lot and posts only occasionally...Where would people like me fit in?

This should be a concern if we do a "post count" membership. My other concern (directed more to the folks above that mentioned only being able to access an area after reaching a minimum post count) is does this end up motivating some folks to make a bunch of "cheap" posts just to get their #'s up? ("nice post, dude", "I agree", "Happy Whip Cream Day, Sally!", "Hello, everyone", etc.)
boofdorf