I think the private forum will just increase the amount of stupid threads in the public forum. A lot of people will be trying to prove themselves worthy of the private forum by trying even harder to post even more "innovative" threads like "NEW METHOD FOR SOLVING 3x3."
If this happens, we will go from there. I doubt this will be much of an issue.
I also think that everything from the private forum (threads and replies) should be duplicated to the public forum. That way the private forum will be sort of an auto-filter to filter out the people that haven't shown themselves to be "worthy" of the private forum, but everyone can still participate in the discussion.
I see what you're getting at, but it somewhat voids the point. Why have divided posts? The private forum isn't to separate the community, but to ultimately make it better. Just because you don't post doesn't mean you can't learn from it, or come up with some insight on something else. People think because they can't post they aren't part of it. The idea is to improve discussion here. We've tried many, many different things over the years to work on this issue, and this is the next step. If it fails we go back to the way it was and try something else.
The concept of a forum like that sounds like a good idea, but the point of having an online cubing community is to have cubers interact with each other. Why should we exclude most of our members?
You don't always need to post. As Erik pointed out, it is important to know when NOT to post. No one is obligated to post. Only post if you have something of value to add. We've reiterated this rule for years now, yet people still find a reason to reply to a topic even if they have no insight or knowledge of the topic. This is one step are will try to help improve this. We do want discussions to occur here without BS in them. If you find a post in the private forum that you have some new insight into, you should request access to post with your reply so we can approve you. Keep in mind, everyone has the opportunity to get in, it is up the user of how they want to post.
A few things to reiterate that DavidWoner and Erik have already posted:
1.
Read the entire thread before posting. This should seem obvious but I see of ton of people posting what has already been said earlier in a thread. I have also seen people post on topics far outside the thread topic because they didn't bother reading it properly. The question you're asking may already be answered. Don't make someone else do the work of finding the answer when it is already written down in front of you.
2.
Lurk. It's okay to not post on something you find interesting. Things like "wow, that's cool" are nice and all, but don't really contribute to anything. If you are going to quote someone just to say "I agree" you can either not post or say something like "I agree because _______" This does not really apply to solve videos, saying "congrats" on a video of a WR etc even though 10 other people have said "congrats" or "wow fast" is to be expected. But you don't need to reply to everything. Only reply when you can add to the quality of the discussion. Reading is fine without posting your opinion. Post count is irrelevant, so don't take that as a factor in your recognition. If you made 1 quality/insightful post, I can assure you people will recognize you. You will find many members here who have <50 posts who have contributed a lot to the quality of this site.
3.
Search function. Please look beyond the first page of results. It's okay to bump an old topic if you are adding something to it or want to see people's current opinion on something. Keep in mind there are over 600,000 posts - there is a very good chance the question you're about to ask has already been discussed and answered here. If you search for more than 10 minutes and can't find anything, then go ahead and create a new topic and tell us you've tried to search, and we will help you locate the answer.
That's cause you're in it, nobhead.
I think he knows that.
My opinion, since it counts just as much as anyone else's, is that its just another favoritist way of controlling the forum.
I bloody hate the way these forums are run. And yes, I'll probably get an infraction or get banned for this but idc.
We want to hear opinions. Any alternative suggestions are always welcome. Keep in mind we've been running this forum for over 5 years, and as it grows things change. The post-quality issue is likely much more difficult to deal with than you think. Again, if you don't like how it is run, please tell us exactly what is wrong, and your suggestion to fix it.
Lastly, I'd like to say that this is a minor part of the community. This small piece is an effort to make the rest of the forum better. Please contribute to improve the discussion here; it will make reading better for everyone. Enjoy the forum and learn from it. If you have more suggestions to improve the site in anyway, please let us know (send me a PM or open a topic in the
Suggestions forum).
but no noobs are spamming in it so that is a good thing!
Now...all of you get over here for a group hug! Yes, you too 
