Reply #3: This software does provide for private forums

[Jersey Devil]

For instance, there is one for the moderators that posters cannot see unless they are admitted by the admins as a moderator. I used this software on my own forum and know its capabilities. Of course, if Admin doesn't want to use that option you could always have a board outside of DU that you maintain by invitation only that you can hide from the public and allow only registered members to see.

By the way, I can understand DU's Admins hesitating to have private forums because my experience with them is that they led to jealousy among posters who were not admitted to them and all kinds of speculation as to what was going on in them.