Not an elite forum per se, but a good place to talk about anti-MAP deals and other discussions that Google won’t index.
LPF has a 1 year membership, 1K posts, and a positive reputation requirement to join the veterans’ forum, and it’s used to pick out scammers (not much of a problem here) or a private discussion of projectors that contain laser diodes.
its not an elite members forum, its a private forum, just like its private message not elite message
What...no elite privates?
Totally agree, I thought exactly about the same - we have had some decent topics going on through PM’s, so why not continuing in the same vein?
Well, if its a private forum, then you should buy your own domain and open up private forum there, aint that true :D? Or ask those, who want one to donate funds and set it up :D!
i would say sent EM but i have nothing elite to say
Is it a matter of interest/will or a matter of cost? I assume the cost is not high to SB to do this, it may take some time or some software settings.
I’ve been to forums where all posts are private, you need a login just to access the forum (or even see what others have posted)
I agree with this statement.
On other sites the ‘elite’ members have had a track record of looking down on newbies and non-paying members. It creates a stench that hangs around until eventually people start feeling the need to escape it.
One of the worst places for this was the members section of Bladeforums. It because a clubhouse for a couple of internet bullies and the inevitable lackeys that follow them. I used to be a member there until I saw the viscous way they treated others who had differing views.
I remember a group of them forced a long time member known as Cliff Stamp off the site. I didn’t care for Stamps posts but only because they were long winded and I didn’t always agree with his knife reviews. When the really nasty bullying started it was too late, they either forced him to leave or was banned on trumped up charges. I can’t remember the details but they had a way not letting up and forcing many long time decent members away for good.
In time, I came to the defense of people like Cliff Stamp and the bullies turned on me like I knew they would. I knew going into that fight that I would lose and be banned but I thought it was worth doing to prove a point. I stood against the pathetic bullies and like the pack of hyenas they were, they ganged up on me.
My point is, all this nastiness happened in the members section. There were and still are decent sub forums on Bladeforums but I don’t ever go or read anything on there because of the layer of scum that exits just below the surface. I don’t want to be a part of helping that cesspool survive.
no change please.
I like new members asking old questions, I like the derailing of threads and back again because there are enough of us here (not in the least: sb) who manage to talk sense to people, I even like the occasional spamhunting that stays within limits because a lot of guys help with that. It works because of the community feeling, and new members here soon feel part of it and help the community. I think this will all be less if part of what is happening here disappears behind a private section.
I know some forums have some areas only visible to registered users for legal reasons and to avoid search engine indexing.
But I think that should be an exception, limited to where it is necessary.
I also don’t mind an ‘adult’s lounge’ for not-so-family-friendly stuff if people feel the need for it.
But the main business of the forum, talking about flashlights, modding & stuff needs to be open to everyone (including search engines).
Many forums doing otherwise started to suck and slowly died. I witnessed that more than once, please don’t do that here. 
The openness is one of the endearing traits of this place.
If this idea were to be implemented, I would do it in a way similar to how Reddit Gold works.
For a brief overview: you can either purchase or award Reddit Gold for a nominal fee. It gives you a gold star on a post, and while your Gold membership is active, it gives you access to a private subreddit for gold holders, and a few other case-specific perks.
Perhaps if you donate to BLF (say, $x a month, or $12*.7x a year) you get a symbol next to your username in posts that designates that you are supporting BLF, and you get access to a sub-forum for donors only. This hypothetical subforum should be used primarily as a group chat, and not as a place of trade.
I would hate to see important information like vendor or product reviews get locked away in the “members only” area.
e90post has a similar (albiet w/o a paywall) setup to this; “the lounge” so to speak is open to all members.
I don’t know what BLF’s costs are, or how well they are covered. Only the admin can speak to that. But I would rather see a members only private chat area than to see the forum die off b/c of a lack of funding!!
That being said, this is an extremely open, well-moderated forum, and attempting to segregate the information with could lead to unintended consequences and a drop in usage/involvement as those seeking the most information suddenly are put in a position where they might have to pay to access it.
I certainly do not support giving donors any sort of admin-esque privileges over their own threads. It would be far too easy for vendors to set up non-vendor accounts and game the system.
TL;DR: Paying for admin privileges is bad, mkay? But maybe a donation to access a chat area or thread could help support the forum.
This is a special place. No elitist attitudes, just kind, helpful and sincere. The forum is of equals and respectful. No changes please.
These sorts of implementations are always divisive in forums.
Seen it before in several forums never a good thing.
So in my view a categorical NO for any private section. BLF is great as it is,
Grouch Marx I sent the club a wire stating, “PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON’T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT PEOPLE LIKE ME AS A MEMBER”.
There's a Starbucks under my building where I work. You can't avoid them. They're everywhere.
Anyways I'm in the line up with my co-worker and the store manager and I said jokingly, "Hey you still using that old gold card, they haven't given you a platinum card yet?"
The next day the store manager pulls me to the side and said please don't joke about that anymore cause for the next hour there was a trickle affect and people were asking why they weren't special enough to have the platinum card since they over heard me talking about it. Some people didn't believe the store manager after he advised them I was just joking.
Unlike the lights we all love, buy, & modify; ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. 
Hi everyone,
Thanks a lot for expressing your thoughts about this in a constructive and reasonable way. I definitely don’t plan on creating a private section any time soon, because I prefer openness and equality for everyone. Likewise, an “adult” section is also a non-option, since I personally don’t like that kind of content and don’t want BLF to serve as a medium for distributing it.
As some have mentioned, feel free to use the PM system for anything clean, friendly, and legal.
As for the occasional thread where anyone wants to share links to flashlight stuff that is being sold lower than MAP, or for any other legitimate reason that you don’t want a thread to be indexed by Internet search engines, just PM me and I can stick a script in that thread to prevent it from being indexed.
Thanks again to all of our BLF members who are courteous and welcoming to newcomers, there are MANY of you and your great attitude doesn’t go unnoticed.
In response to the OP… arent you glad you asked? 
…and that my friends is why this the the most awesome board on the planet
Hi, the answer is NO from me. Warm welcome and no special sections are some of the reasons why I like it here and return here.
I didnt realize that we had the option… thank you Mr. Admin.
Won’t those lower-than-MAP threads still have a similar problem where even though it’s not indexed by Google, the manufacturer can still come here and frown upon our lower-than-MAP-ness, shutting whatever deals down?