Wedge

"only some people"? It's permission based?

You can specify a list of user IDs. Otherwise it'll be visible only to your friends list.

I should add that this feature is not actually in the trunk for now. But hopefully it should be, in time for the first public release.

This is going to be quite handy I think.Would you be able to specify certain user groups too and maybe only logged in users?

It would actually be easier and faster to be able to specify membergroups. It's not implemented though, but I guess it could be done through some syntax like [private groups=1,2,3]...

Assuming they can't see the portions in question, how would this work for moderators/administrators editing a message containing this private tag?

Admins could see it I'm afraid.
Tough job eh?

As long as it's documented and clear to the end-user, that's fine with me, really. Most admins are capable of finding it in the database anyway.

Yes :)

analogous to "whisper" as in the vanilla forum?

Never used Vanilla.
From what I can read, no, it's not that. Whispers are post-wide, while the private tag can be just a single word in a message.

Question: when a user quotes a post, it should be stripped, or left in, depending on whether they can see it - but presumably, admins and moderators will get it in the quote as well?

I like this idea. I could definitely see using it.

It should be stripped -- always. Systematically.
Having a private conversation happen in the middle of a public conversation should be considered a no-no. You can share some thoughts in a single post, but if others want to reply to you, they'd better do it by PM.

Of course, that's my opinion and I may be convinced otherwise, but I'd tend to say no.See above.

No, I agree with you there, that's the right approach to take. I just wanted to be sure we were on the same page.

I'm sure we already discussed it in the past. :P