It is possible to put the forums into view, but not allow anyone other than trade to enter them.......

Im not sure on it.  It is possible, but will put all trade boards in view, and as people click the boards, they will get a "You are not allowed to view this board" message.  By he time they have gone a few boards down, and had this message, they will loose interest in the whole board, as they will assume they have access to nothing.

If we do want to make it clear there are more rooms available, maybe we should show the Trade Category Header Bar, but none of the rooms.  Then have a message in a bar below it (in place of the rooms) saying "To View The Trade Rooms, Please Apply For Trade Access".

Having a long list of rooms with no access would put off just as many people as it would encourage.

Either way, the trade area should be hidden until logged in.



Another thing I was looking into was to put a clickable message between the news fader at the top of the message index, and the boards.  This would read something like "Click Here To Apply For Trade Access".  This would then take you to the Trade Applications Thread, and eventually (when time permits), an online form to fill out and submit.

I like lecs idea

don't really like the idea of the trade area been read by non trade members

yeah thats what i was saying i preferred your idea to marks original suggestion

Would also be a good idea to ammend the email sent with the password when a new member registers.  We could remind them that a Trade Area exists.