I've been wondering this for a while, but only now have bothered to ask about it:

The MLwM playtest forum operated under the noses of a lot of Forge members for about a year. A very useful forum, indeed, and keeping it invisible is certainly a sensible goal. I'm glad that Paul chose to allow it to be made public, because in retrospect it is a very interesting read, and I'm glad to see that it's been preserved.

But now, after wondering about it on-and-off for some time, it makes me think to myself: what other forums exist on the Forge that aren't available for general public consumption? Please note I'm not asking for ACCESS to them, I'm just wondering what they are, and what their purposes might be.

Are there other games currently in development in other hidden fora (or alternatively, are there hidden fora that host the development process for now-completed games - ther "Usergroups" link has a group called "Universalis Playtesters" that seems to suggest a linked hidden forum, but I could be wrong on that score)? Are there hidden administrative fora? Are there currently no other hidden fora? (And if there aren't any, what happened to the missing #s in the forum line-up?) Are there fora that are hidden who have purposes I haven't yet described?

I'm curious. :) So I ask... and if these things are meant to be SO secret that nobody should know about them, I won't mind being told that it's none of my business. But if there's no harm in at least mentioning the purposes of possible other hidden forums, I'd like to hear what they are.

Universalis had a hidden forum. Instead of creating a seperate forum like Paul did, we just eventually made the playtest forum visable and are continueing to use it. All of the original playtest threads are locked but still accessable for the curious.

Wow. I'd never gone back far enough in your forum to notice the eerie graveyard of locked threads. Has anyone ever noticed how the locks look somewhat like gravestones? Very neat, I think I'm gonna go traipse through them and watch Universalis develop for the first time.

Are y'all using the "Universalis Playtesters" usergroup for anything now, or is it a vestigial organ of the Forge with no remaining purposes, somewhat akin to the appendix?

I'm guessing "vestigal". But that would be Clinton's department as he had to set all of that up for us.

Sort of an odd question. I mean, if someone had a secret forum here, and wanted to keep it secret, would they post here about it? :-)

Just trying to crank up the paranioa level.

Mike

Depends on whether they want its EXISTENCE a secret, or just the CONTENTS a secret, I suppose.

But conspiracy theories are fun.

I once followed a linke Gareth-Michael Skarka posted on ENWorld to a Heroes of the New Wave (or maybe just Adamant?) forum here. I couldn't find it in the listings, though.

I think that GMS has killed Ron and taken his stuff. And he, Mike, Ralph, and Paul are now using hidden Forge forums to orchestrate a hostile takeover of the Role-Playing industry. If you never here from me again, you'll know why.

Erm, oops. Just double checked that. Adamant forum=Not hidden. heh.

Guess it's just the other three, then. :^D

THEY CAN'T TAKE ME ALIVE!
--Jeff

The real secret plot can be found here

Valamir wrote: The real secret plot can be found here