Okay, so for a lot of us that aren't in n00b or belong to the Pirate crew (members only, bug reports, council forums, etc) know that we can see the forums to which we don't have access (that meaning we can see that they're there, but we cannot view any content). I know it's possible with other forum software - I'm a reviewer for a computer website, and the staff/reviewer forum's link is only visible to those with the permissions to access it. However, we more or less use a scratch-made forum from what I know - though I may be wrong.

Anyways, I'm kind of an OCD whore when it comes to forums in the sense that for example, here, I like to keep all of the subforums blue - meaning that I know that don't miss any posts/discussions. I never got used to the "view active topics" or "view new posts" features on any forum that I frequent, so I have been doing it manually for years (THAT'S WHAT HE SAID but no really, as in stay on board index, refresh page, scroll down - YELLOW SUB-FORUM *click*)

Since I cannot "view" the specialized sub-forums, I cannot get rid of the "unread posts" that are sitting in those forums. I was wondering if there was a way with phpBB to essentially hide these forums (either on my side or server side) so that I can only see the sub-forums to which I have access. I fiddled around in the CP but didn't see anything.

If this is not possible or just not feasible, feel free to slap me around and/or call me a queer nig nig and I'll be on my merry way :P

At the bottom of the index page, there is a Mark Forums Read button. Click that and it will clear at the posts. Whether you have access to them or not.

AH, that helps. The "mark forum as read" is at the top :)

What you're describing (being able to see some forums that you can't enter) is by design. There are other forums that don't show up on your list at all and can't see post counts/etc for, and those are generally for the highest-ranking folks. The reason you can see that the n00b members area exists is that it sorta acts as bait -- a lot of people want to know what's going on in there but can't until they join. It's an incentive to join. The other forums exist for the same reason -- except the council forum, really. You can see that one because we want non-council members to be able to see how active the council is, etc. It's all about visibility.

Makes perfect sense. Thanks G