I would dearly love this feature as well! There is a vendor feedback forum I'd like to add to my site, but want people (especially vendors) to read and agree to a legal disclaimer that, if thay get access, they won't sue before they can access teh forum. So, I'd really like to see the ability to have a forum which can be seen in the index, but must have permission to access. As an option, the forum could also be password-protected and only members with the PW can access.
