I dont think it would be too hard to do this.  Have it so CLs can make separate areas and title them.  Such as a rules area (to post what is standard in the hq forums), a new member area (to give your new members an area they know they can post in without worry), then perhaps the CL could even assign an area for each of their subcrews to have their own little place.

To expand upon this even further you could code for there to be 'shared forums' in which you could check a box for the area(s) you make to share with other crews beyond your own.  This could be from your own city or perhaps even 'friends' from other crews in other cities.

I don't know that separate subdirectories are necessary here (and I may be misunderstanding the gist of your suggestion), but I do like the idea of a Godfather family public forum viewable by all families in that city, as well as the option for CLs to restrict access to certain threads in their family, either by name or by rank.

For example, certain threads could only be viewable by Made Men and above.

I agree about the Godfathers and Godmothers being able to see into the crews HQs and the ability for threads to be only viewed by MadeMen and up. This was recently suggestioned as well.

As for friends from other crews, if you wanna interact with them, visit the coffee house or the buisness district.

well, im pretty new to these streets so im not sure how it works, but i would think at some times some families may want a private convo area with other city(ies), visiting a coffee house or business district would be public (granted there is IRC, but there is a certain convenience to being able to discuss things privately in a less 'now or miss it' type setting...

I dont want Godfathers (or their family) being able to see into crews HQ's that are in their city - and I say this as GF RHM. At the end of the day, some crews inside a city are independent auths completely unaffiliated with a GF, to make their hqs viewable by a GF would totally remove the possibility of this being an option

I don't think the GFs should see into the city HQs either. What I think would be a city wide forum hosted by the GF (not his own family HQ) viewable by all families in the city, independent of the individual crew HQs. (kind of like the city rules page, but a forum seen only to members of the home city)

My apologies if my initial post wasn't clear, I by no means want to infringe upon the sovereignty and seclusion of individual family HQs.