# So what are Forums 8 to 11? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [January 14, 2007, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-forums-8-to-11/387949 "2007-01-14T16:37:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mbossa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Mbossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mbossa)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-forums-8-to-11/387949/21 "2007-01-16T00:04:54Z")
Check out [this ancient thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=35301) on the subject. > [@a very young Una Persson](#): > > Yes, there are 4 secret forums, not available to most members. While hacking passwords and doing a portscan of the SDMB site, I came across them. > > I can tell you what they are, but you can’t enter without “Fire-Team Omega” level clearance, so I don’t know what good it will do you. > > They are: > > #8 - Britney Spears (Questions about and relating to Ms. Spears) > > #9 - The Trilateral Commission (For members only) > > #10 - Moderator Cybersex (Moderators ONLY please…) > > #11 - NO HOMERS! (Self Evident) I think that’s the final word on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-forums-8-to-11/387949/22 "2007-01-16T00:52:10Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] Google 42 and you will know the answer. [/QUOTE] And here I am, Member #41, as close as anyone here will ever get to the answer, seeing as Member #42 no longer exists. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-forums-8-to-11/387949/23 "2007-01-16T01:47:33Z")
[QUOTE=Lynn Bodoni] where we move the spam and troll threads to. [/QUOTE] Perhaps forcing the trolls to eat the Spam might go some way towards ameliorating both problems. Probably not, though, since there is far more Spam than trolls to eat it. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-forums-8-to-11/387949/24 "2007-01-16T05:50:57Z")
Gaps in forum numbers are a quirk of vBulletin. Let’s say we’ve got a forum administrator with a fresh installation of vBulletin. The first subforum created will be f=1, the second f=2, the third f=3, and so on. If they create five subforums at the start, the highest numbered forum will be f=5. If they delete the second subforum, f=2, the other forum numbers don’t change. If, later on, the admin wants to create a new subforum, it will be f=6; the numbers of deleted forums are not recycled, and there will be a permanent gap in the forum numbering sequence. I wonder what the deal is with the _Main_ subforum (f=15) on the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-forums-8-to-11/387949/25 "2007-01-16T17:27:38Z")
Isn’t Forum 19 where Cecil’s responses to the Teeming Minions are re-routed? After all, “They” can’t let him get _Too_ powerful. It’s all part of the take-over plot y’a know! ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-forums-8-to-11/387949/26 "2007-01-16T18:43:21Z")
[QUOTE=elmwood] I wonder what the deal is with the _Main_ subforum (f=15) on the SDMB. [/QUOTE] That’s my practice room. The staff made me isolate it from the rest of the board. Everybody’s a critic. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-forums-8-to-11/387949/27 "2007-01-16T19:11:38Z")
> [@](#): > > Some of them are inaccessible mod/admin-only areas where they discuss things and/or move troublesome posts (moving is less demanding than deletion to the board software, as I understand it), I don’t know which is more demanding at the moment (way back when I was a mod, moving was the Worst Possible Thing you could do to the board, but that was many versions ago), but there are other good reasons to hide threads rather than delete them. It also provides a measure of record-keeping: If the mods notice a pattern in who’s starting spam threads, for instance, that might help empower them to prevent the threads from being started in the first place. There have also been a few incidents where the Powers that Be have cooperated in off-board actions against wrongdoers (I seem to recall one case where a member was violating his school’s computer usage policies, for instance), and those threads might come in handy as evidence. So it’s best not to do anything that would permanently get rid of them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-forums-8-to-11/387949.md?page=1)