[chrishajer]

2. – apparently none is just shorthand for noindex, nofollow. I’ve always explicitly set them, and there’s really just 4 combinations.

index, follow

index, nofollow

noindex, follow

noindex, nofollow

In any case, looks like you sorted that.

Never having tried to do what you’re doing, I’m not sure what the answer is to making the Hidden Forums plugin work for you.

Making the whole installation require a login is not that big a deal. Sometimes you can protect a whole directory in your host’s control panel. The bigger problem (for me) is getting the password to everyone you want to have it, unless it’s a group that communicates in other ways, then you can distribute it there.