I am against the idea.
If anyone wants to keep things more private than this forum or wants to discuss them as such, you have PM, email, chat, Facebook, Twitter or even good ol' face-to-face.
At a very long stretch, I'd maybe support a Gold only forum (one already exists but it only does to instruct Gold members what they are entitled to), but I still think this is pointless and just sets the wrong ethos. As well as this, there will always be a risk and concern that info within the "secret" area will be leaked, without being necessarily traceable back to a member (unless a witch hunt is initiated).
I respect that others have gone to lengths to research particular "tricks" or what not; if they share those with me then I do not post them openly here without their permission. That's just a trust matter, which I thought was kind of part and parcel with something else called common sense. If I post something which is not meant to be shared, if someone tells me so then I will remove it.
If it gets out, well then it's out and unless it's forcibly removed, I'll talk a bit more liberally about it. Needless to say, once it is out in the open and not stopped from being talked about, it's not quite right to brand those who newly read this information as "leeches". Of course, if the topic is further discussed and that's significant synthesis on top of the original content, then that might be described as "leeching" and needn't be answered (for example, specific routings, checking rules, etc. - no need to answer these if you don't want to; after all, you did all the routing trial-and-error, you are the one who purchased a subscription to Expert Flyer / KVS, etc. etc.)
There are certainly a couple of things which I know which I have only learned by talking to those people face-to-face. To this day, I still haven't talked about it on AFF. Other things I have discussed off AFF or via PMs. Nothing wrong with that.
In any case, when reposting information - whether it be on another thread, another forum or a blogpost - the principles of proper attribution should be followed. The information where you derive your post from should be clearly referenced, and the proper authors of that acknowledged. (In academia, we do this with referencing; in the more informal sense on forums and blogs, a "hat tip" or standard courtesy should be paid.) Especially in the case where content is lifted without significant synthesis, attribution should be made and a generous thanks given (or even better, permission sought from owner), otherwise there's a risk that an accusation of plagiarism could be made.
I realise that blogs like some on the Boarding Area earn affiliate income based on traffic, as do some other websites, for example Australian Business Traveller, perhaps to a lesser degree. The reposting of information on such blogs I don't think is necessarily wrong, as long as the blogger does not claim ownership of the material, references the source and gives appropriate attribution to the original author.
