Hmmm...
I hadn't heard of the private forum until the post for help for fayerody, but I was gone for a while, so maybe I just missed it. I kinda like the idea of a private forum, but for (maybe?) different reasons. It seems like it could be an even safer-feeling place to post, where those who see it are only those who are identifiable to the PC moderation crew because of their money-link, or those who have invested so much time into the site it's rather unlikely they're some sort of hidden jerk. The rest of the site is open to any/everyone, which is of course good, but you never know who might sign up as who knows what other than who they really are. It's much harder to fake a bank account transaction than an email address. Just a thought.

And I totally think it's great that we can help out fayerody. I'm sure DocJohn wouldn't be nearly so quick to offer donations to someone just passing through. Fayerody has enough trust here, people feel we can believe her.