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I was thinking more in terms of getting to try out and work on different layouts, offerings, features. Folks don't like their favorite forum changing all the time, so a change needs to be worth while and tested. I like to set up something and let a small group fuss around with any new ideas for a while and let me know if it makes sense to all of them.

Or sometimes a change in one part is only ok because you changed another part, replaced the feature or so forth, so we would work it through on the privite install and get it all checked out before swapping it over to the main install. 

I guess what I'm saying is that i actually can't imagine not having a "playground". Specially right now while i build an entirely new board on a new platform and explore how much things have changed in the last 10-15 years since i was admining forums. I will check out how much i can do in the ways that you suggest and pipe up again if i find myself in a corner.