Fair enough, but it does seem a bit like splitting hairs. One hacker's alpha is another's general release candidate. What I was hoping this article was about

Fair enough, but it does seem a bit like splitting hairs. One hacker's alpha is another's general release candidate. What I was hoping this article was about was whether or not private WHATEVERs were a good idea at all. Let's say you've got some software that does something interesting. Should you slap "invite code needed" on your home page?