Stephanie Leary

<ul>
<li>Optionally adds private pages to <code>wp_list_pages()</code>, <code>wp_page_menu()</code>, and the Pages widget</li>
<li>Provides a separate <code>wp_list_private_pages()</code> tag (a clone of <code>wp_list_pages()</code> that accepts all the same arguments)</li>
<li>Specifies private categories, in which all posts will automatically be set to private</li>
<li>Lets you change the “Private:” prefix on private post/page titles</li>
<li>Lets you change the “Protected:” prefix on password-protected post/page titles</li>
<li>Lets you choose which user roles can read private pages and posts</li>
</ul>
<p>Now on <a href="https://github.com/sillybean/private-suite" rel="nofollow ugc">GitHub</a>.</p>
<h4>Translations</h4>
<ul>
<li>French (fr_FR) by Regis Lemaire</li>
<li>Bulgarian (bg_BG) by <a href="http://www.siteground.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">SiteGround</a></li>
<li>Turkish (tr_TR) by <a href="http://bijoubijouterie.com" rel="nofollow ugc">Ömer Faruk Karabulut</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Notes</h3>
<h3>Reading Settings</h3>
<p>You must have at least one public page. Otherwise, as of 3.1, the front page settings (where you can choose a static page as your home page) will not appear on the settings page at all. As long as you have one public page, all the private pages will appear as options in the dropdown menu.</p>
<h3>Page Lists and Widgets</h3>
<p>Adding private pages to <code>wp_list_pages()</code>, <code>wp_page_menu()</code>, and the Pages widget does not always work as it should. The private pages will be out of order, and they might appear as children of the wrong parent page. If this occurs, try using the <code>wp_list_private_pages()</code> template tag instead. It’s a clone of <code>wp_list_pages()</code> and should accept all the same arguments. This plugin includes an extra Pages widget that includes private pages.</p>
<h3>Private Categories</h3>
<p>When you mark a category as private, all the posts in that category will have their visibility set to private when they are published, even if you don’t change the visibility setting on the edit screen. Only published posts are affected; your draft, pending, and scheduled posts will work as usual, except that scheduled posts will be set to private when they become active.</p>
<h3>Acknowledgments</h3>
<p>Huge thanks to <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/mtekk" rel="nofollow ugc">mtekk</a> for providing the <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/8592" rel="nofollow ugc">patch</a> that makes the page list features possible. The alternative method of listing pages was adapted from <a href="http://activecodeline.com/create-a-menu-for-private-pages-and-posts-in-wordpress" rel="nofollow ugc">Branko Ajzele</a>.</p>
<h3>Translations</h3>
<p>If you would like to send me a translation, please write to me through <a href="http://sillybean.net/about/contact/" rel="nofollow ugc">my contact page</a>. Let me know which plugin you’ve translated and how you would like to be credited. I will write you back so you can attach the files in your reply.</p>


Private Suite

Allows you to choose who can read private content and offers better control of privacy features.

Robin W

<p>An add-on to the bbPress forum plugin – creates private forum groups</p>
<p>This Plugin creates unlimited private forum groups.</p>
<p>Forums are then allocated to one or more groups, and users allocated to one or more groups.</p>
<p>What this achieves<br />
unlimited private groups<br />
Each user is set to a group or groups, and each forum can have any or all the groups associated with it<br />
Any number of public forums combined with any number of group forums.  The group forums can be individually set to public or private.<br />
Forum title and description (but not topics or replies) can be set to be visible to non-group users, allowing people to see that a forum exists but not access it<br />
Separate pages can be set to allow redirection of non group users for sign-up or information<br />
Topic Permissions<br />
Topic Permissions is designed for sites where users need to have different permissions to different forums.<br />
For instance the ability for users to contribute to one forum whilst only being able to view another, or only start topics in one forum, or only reply to topics in another.</p>
<p>Example</p>
<p>So if<br />
User a belongs to group 1<br />
User b belongs to group 2<br />
User c belongs to group 3</p>
<p>and<br />
Forum x is set to allow group 2<br />
Forum y is set to allow group 2 and group 3<br />
Forum z is set to allow group 1 and group 3</p>
<p>Then<br />
User a can access only forum z<br />
User b can access forum x and forum y<br />
User c can access forum y and forum z</p>
<p>Restrictions/warnings</p>
<p>The widgets (bbpress) forums list, (bbpress) recent replies, and (bbpress) recent topics SHOULD NOT BE USED, as they will show topics headings and author names for all forums.  Replacement widgets called (private groups) forums list, (private groups) recent replies, and (private groups) recent topics are available instead</p>
<p>Works with bbpress 2.5.3 or higher</p>


Private groups

After wasting hours trying to get Skyverge's WooCommerce Memberships to do what I needed (no practical way to protect topics), I tried this and had it doing everything I needed in under 15 minutes.

Setup a group, manually assigned users to that group.
Set the forum to private and assigned that that group to it.
Viola, everything worked exactly as I wanted.

Public doesn't even see the forum exists. Group members can when logged in.  Non-members can't go directly to to topic URL and bypass the protection.

Only suggestions would be:
1. cleanup the settings pages and instructions, they're a bit overly complicated and hard to follow. 
2. some way to trigger group membership programmatically based on a WooCommerce purchase (I know, to specific and I'll probably code it myself for what I need).

Thanks again for an awesome bbp plugin!

Easy setup and protected forums exactly as I needed

For bbPress - Creates private forum groups

Private Suite vs Private groups