Yes, the current system leads people to the restricted forums through "back doors". e.g. searches and recent post lists.

I posted a reply to a question on the OS support forum without having any clue I was in the support forum. Of course I could have looked at the top of the page.... but I arrived through the "back door" and just assumed it was posted in the plain old engine forum... it didn't help that it was the middle of the night [sm=stupid.gif]

Anyway.... I went back looking for it in the engine forum, could find it, then found it deleted in the support forurm and realized what I did. It the server simply allowed posts by the thread originator, and authorized users, then no hands on enforcement would be necessary.