bbPress.org

Hi all.

I’ve been asked to create a forum that should be visible only to members.
It should entirely hidden to the public.

I understand that this can be done with bbPress for the forum, and a plugin (or two?) to keep the forum entirely out of view of the public.

I’d also like to make the registration process as smooth as possible.

A form will be presented to applicants.

Upon approval, I’d like to give successful applicants immediate forum access, without them having to register manually.

I haven’t checked yet, but I imagine that an admin should be able to create users manually and send them membership details (after which they will be prompted to create a secure password).

My questions:

* What are the best tools for create privacy?
ie, ensuring that the forum will be invisible to anyone except registered forum members?

* What might I need to know about creating a membership-approval flow that matches the one I’ve described above? Apart from a form-creation plugin, will I need any other third-party tools?

* Are there any ‘gotchas’ I should be concerned about when building a hidden private forum?

Thanks.