Not anymore :D

I would like to see it. I have areas of my forum that are only accessible to users that show certain expertise in different areas of programming. They are voted in by other experts after they exhibit a distinct knowledge and grasp of programming concepts.
The system works well and gives newcomers and novice programmers something to work towards. I think soemthing like this might work well. The inexperienced might take time to understand what is involved with creating a hack and try to figure out any problems they have and in the process start to create new hacks.

With the chance of getting flamed .. a total n00b replys!! , i didnt vote, i wouldnt be bothered with the experienced hackers gettin a private place.

But something else i would love to see happen is another forum , where the n00b's are tought php , i have a few book's here to learn with.

But from what i have seen from hack's ive installed , is that vb is almost another language alltogether.

At the moment im working on my own hack , it's going to take years to do at the current rate of progress. As much as i would like assistance at making this hack , i would rather make it all myself , from code i have seen.

For information the hack i am working on is called vBWebRing , initally it will be a vB hack , but eventually it will be a vB & vBPortal hack.

I voted yes, but would like to bring up a point.

Lets take two users
Bane
Mark Hensler

Bane has put out 1 major vB Hack thats in the top 5 and is Moderately knowlegable in php.

Mark Hensler has put out 0 vB Hacks, but is very knowlegable about PHP/MySQL etc..

Which would be invited? How would we be sure that people like Mark got an invite.

The second issue would be this, what happens if/when someone that has access to the private forum starts asking really stupid questions that are the reason the forum got created in the first place.. Do you yank his access? And what would be that persons reaction to this?

I approve of the idea, but can't help thinking I approve of it because I would somehow have a magical key to the city. I hope that if something like this is thought about, that the impact on the greater part of the community that would *not* be included is considered.

I would imagine that people who have released at least one vB hack, and have quite a good knowledge of PHP and are active would be let in.

I, honestly, am against it. I think support is bad enough here. A private forum will just keep the people that could actually help away even more. I think the focus should be on working on support right now, as it takes forever for just one person to say I don't know.

That is my point Shpookdefied. Some of us are not in the support business. We don't mind sharing our ideas but have no time to hold newbie hands. This would give us a place to talk without some novice seeing our work, trying to install it and then demanding help. Therefore, if we DID post our work in public it would be an indication that we will support it and that it is appropriate for novice hackers.

Amy

Sorry but you are wrong. You have no idea how many bad hacks are out there released at vB.org site.
That's why a Review system will be great. It will avoid security problems, slowing down the board due to bad code, etc. since people will actually see what's wrong with it. Also the coder will learn from his(her) mistakes.

Take a look at my hacks. They may be useful to some people but by no means do they sum up my knowledge of php. I have only just reached the part in my book where php and mysql meet so by no means do hacks count as a basis for knowledge or experience.

- miSt

Side note: not to be stereotypical but young people all getting together on a programming project almost never succeeds. I'm not saying that's the case here but everywhere I've gone that's the trend I've gotten.