A restricted, private or Tyled area will allow for 'private' discussions without interference of non-masons. On MasterMason.com, all public discussions are index & cached by the search engine bots; some even before the admins can delete them. These are available for public web-searches in detail by google and others. ... 'tyled' discussions are not accessed by the search bots and can not be cached. .... Discussions (& arguments) are Private. And, as such, unauthorized access by persons looking for 'dirt' on Freemasonry or an individual form causal forum discussions is prevented.
As long as the 'admin & mods' do not have a hierarchy resembling the structure of a Lodge (& names) or the tyled/private area do not resemble a Lodge in structure; there should not be a problem of a GL accusing the forum of operating a 'Clandestine Lodge' online.
Most forum software has the ability to have membership groups. By setting up the groups, members can be differentiated as public (newbie, jr, sr) or verified members (EA, FC, MM). On MasterMason.com, all 'quarrymen' are MMs of recognized US regular GL; PHA or member of a GL/Lodge recognized by the GLoS, GLoI or UGLE. All others are deemed Clandestine as for as the forum is concerned and not legible for 'tyled' access.
For the purpose of the forum, it should be immaterial if the GLs within the recognized group do not all recognized each other. ..... Basically, now anyone, even Clandestine Masons can participate in discussions on FreemasonHall as long as they are civil. I hate educating the Clandestine Mason and wantabe's.
A 'private' area for masonic discussions by Masons would be good.