This is one basic feature that I wish was included as standard.
Only way currently is to use a plugin, there are three but none look like they’re actively being updated.
https://bbpress.org/plugins/topic/hidden-forums/
https://bbpress.org/plugins/topic/zaerl-visibility/
https://bbpress.org/plugins/topic/private-forums/
Not tested any yet, will be doing so soon. Zaerl is the most recent so that’s the one I’ll try first.
If anyone could feedback any experiences with using these on bbPress beta2 that would be great.
@bkno – @powerspawn is asking about bbPress 2.0, so those plugins won’t help him.
@powerspawn – Right now you’ll need to write a piggyback plugin for bbPress, that will add the read_private_forums capability to the roles that you want to have it.
@powerspawn
Check out Justin’s members plugin:
https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/members/
Steps I took to get it working:
1. In dashboard go to Settings – members components
turn on edit roles and new roles
*If you want to create a custom role like a custom admin/mod etc
2. In dashboard go to Users – new roles
Create a new role and assign all the relevant capabilities you wish them to have
*If you would rather just use an existing user group to give permissions to
2. In the dashboard go to Users – roles
Choose the group you want to give permissions to read private forums/topics/relies to, and click edit.
3. Add the capabilities to post/edit/read_private_forums/topics/replies (whatever you want)
*If you create a new role, then you need to go and edit the users you want to give the new role to.
Warning:
You really need to have a good understanding of all the capabilities on the screen. Meaning, you could give people permissions to do things they should not be able to, or vice versa. Pay very careful attention to the added capabilities you add/remove to a group
Hope it helps
I’d like my new group/role can read only an existing private forum, is it possibile with Justin’s members plugin? I cannot figure out how do it.
@Giulio
Yes, Justins plugin works where you choose the group you want to be able to view hidden forums. Once you have chosen the group you want to work with, check the box read_hidden_forums()
That will give the specific group in question the ability to read the hidden forums.
Ok, but what about a specific hidden forum, A instead of B?
@Giulio
That feature is not yet currently available. Actually from my basic understanding of wp user roles, this is going to be a really tough one to tackle.
In general, the way wordPress works is to use actions like read_hidden_forums() where you can then assign that to a specific wp group. The issue comes into play with granular control, i.e. individual forums. Understanding how to extend the control is beyond my knowledge, but will probably be looked into someday.
My own personal plan of attack to solve this is to use buddypress groups to manage the permissions. Each buddypress group can easily have their own admins and moderators. And since each group can have its own forum, then the problem is somewhat solved.
I have not yet done this because I am in no ‘real’ hurry, and personally prefer to wait for buddypress 1.3 before I jump into another huge project.
As the projects mature I think we will start to see many new options popping up.
p.s.
If you are feeling somewhat adventurous, Justin has just released a new beta vs. of members.
http://justintadlock.com/archives/2011/06/01/members-plugin-beta-testing
anointed thank you very much!
Justin’s members plugin beta is perfect!
Different approach, new account, let’s hope my posts don’t automatically get flagged as spam this time.
Ok, I’m running Version 2.0-rc-1.
Amongst my forums I have a forum that I have set to:
Status: Open
Visibility: Hidden.
Admins can see and use it just fine.
Editors can only see it though, when I go to the forum page (as an Editor) /forums/forum/<forum-name>/ I get a “Page Not Found. The page you were looking for was not found.” Other forums / topics work just fine.
I’m running the members plugin mentioned above (the new one) and I have given editors the following caps (amongst other stuff):
read_hidden_forums (added this myself, just to be sure, because it was not in the list)
read_hidden_topics (added this myself, just to be sure, because it was not in the list)
read_hidden_replies (added this myself, just to be sure, because it was not in the list)
read_private_forums
read_private_topics
read_private_replies
I also tried making a new role with those caps, but that doesn’t help either.
I’m probably overlooking something, anyone who can help?
Take care,
Pim
Aside from the spam replies, nobody else with this problem? 
Doesn’t seem so. Marking as resolved.
It’s this ticket: https://bbpress.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/1576
Giving the “edit_other_forums” cap seemed to solve it.
I see the ticket, I commented on it yesterday. I can’t duplicate it, and don’t see any reason that cap would cause that behavior.
If I find the time I’ll see if I can test on a brand new install, but I don’t know if I’ll have that time.
Any idea what else could cause it?
Either way, it’s not really an issue for me for me at the moment, since it’s working now
PS > Lots of updates yesterday night, nice one!
Same problem. I don’t want to give these roles the “edit_other_forums” capability because that seems to overrule the restrictions I have in place. I need to have two private forums – one for one group and the other for the other group (these roles have no admin capabilities).
