Can I password protect a forum, and still show the number of posts from the forumlist
 

I have a site with private "clubs" that typically have between 200-400 users.

The problem is, with password protection, it appears to someone without a password that there is no activity in these forums, thus limiting their interest in joining them.

Is there a way to make enable guests to be able to see the amount of posts from the main forum listings without being able to actually to read any of the topics inside?

yes, i have it so my Guests are able to view the forum but not forum content. so they're able to see how many threads and posts are inside... but PRIVATE is displayed where Last Thread usually is. if try to enter the forum, i have it set to display Registered Users Only! feel free to browse my forums as a Guest without signing up to see what i mean.

What are the settings? Or are you just using usergroups to modify this? I do not have the time to do that, so I was hoping for an easy way around this.

This is not a "small forum" :squareeyed:

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/

i'm using a combination of usergroup permissions and a forum password with a promotion... took me all of about 5 minutes to set it up. to set the forum password, just go to your Forum Manager >> Access Options >> Forum Password (Optional: This acts in addition to any other permissions set for this forum). the only problem with a simple password is that once, it's out and known... it can be shared amongst users and becomes useless.

Doing that does not answer the original poster's question. Doing that makes a user without access see 0 threads/posts. What he asked was how to show the number of posts and threads on the forum index, but still have the forum password protected.