Ah well, I'm guessing this new policy is here to stay. I've been involved with (totally unrelated) forum's before, and been an active moderator or administrator at times, so I understand that it's perfectly valid to have hidden forums and private areas as a reward for the heavier users. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't already a lot of hidden areas or private off board groups anyway!
If I understand the discussion prior to the swimsuit forum access being restricted, it was primarily due to the theft of BZ's material on other sites? If so, I'm not sure if this will really curb it too much because I'd almost guarantee whoever is stealing the content would already have 50 posts (or could find a way to get their numbers up soon enough). I'm just a nobody around here, but on behalf of those out there that used to read the swimsuit threads and follow along from a distance, I'd like to respectfully request this decision to be reconsidered. If there is sensitive items or things you don't want public then I'm sure you'll find a way to continue sharing those items privately, but it's unfortunate that the nuclear option was the one chosen.
I'll most likely keep visiting, and I'll try to get a little more involved, but I also don't want to be the guy that just says "awesome, thanks for the post" another 46 times just for the sake of it. If there was a way of measuring site activity from page views or time logged on, I think that would be more fair, but I doubt the forum software allows for that.
Anyway, that's my 2c for what it's worth. Thanks for running a great forum, and even if nothing changes, keep up the good work!