Most users are unaware that there are private categories that exist on the site. As a user increases in trust level, they gain access to more features of the forum.
A relevant question to have would be, “What categories am I not able to see?”. This topic will explain what the private categories are, and how users gain access to them.
- Regulars’ Lounge – #regulars-lounge
- Staff – #staff
- Shared Drafts – #staff:shared-drafts
- Legal – #staff:legal
- Archive – #staff:archive
Regulars’ Lounge
Users who make it to trust level 3 (“Regular”), gain access to the Regulars’ Lounge. This is, essentially, an exclusive version of the public Community Lounge.
Staff channels
Staff members have access to an exclusive category. This is a private area meant for holding staff discussions, although it is instead primarily used for other purposes. Other purposes include:
- testing new features
- preparing rough drafts
- discussing concerning information (such as issues regarding personal info)
- keeping checklists on various suggested features (and progress towards them)
There are also three sub-categories for the Staff channel.
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Shared Drafts: This sub-category is more primarily dedicated to hosting rough drafts. More specifically, it holds “shared drafts” that are meant to be collaborated upon by staff, and can then be published publicly through a “destination category” system.
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Legal: This sub-category contains all topics relevant to managing the site’s legal information, and contains some other site-specific maintenance threads like the FAQ/Guidelines.
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Archive: This sub-category is used to separate old and irrelevant topics from ongoing drafts and discussions. It exists so that old Staff topics do not have to be permanently deleted. Archiving old topics in this manner is essential for proper recall for whenever a relevant issue may arise.