I believe one of the major flaws with Night Drop was the fact that it was mentioned once in one thread and those who wanted access gained access and it was never spoken of again. People who registered had no idea of its existence, and long term members who may have come back may not have known of its existence.

What makes this forum any different? how will people know of it's existence if it's behind closed doors and they have to seek it to know about it. What about hiding it from unregistered users and then making it available to registered users, or even users who have been active for x amount of days?

And because of that, permission must be granted in order to see it. Not everyone will want to...so folks should ask first.
Putting it in its own section solves that problem. if people don't want to see the ugliness, the answer is simple...don't go in the forum!