WordPress MU

Is there a way to lock the entire blog by password protecting it? I think WP.com implements a similar feature. Any info?

try searching, it has been mentioned a few times, as far as I rememebr one solution was from taragana he has a plugin to password protect the whole blog though I did not try it out...

###edit###
just found the link: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/angsumans-authenticated-wordpress-plugin-password-protection-for-your-wordpress-blog/

How would I implement this with either the friends plugin or a password system...just being logged in doesn't cut it for me.

does this one help? http://mu.bloggles.info/2006/09/16/private-blog-2/

I have not tried it yet...

Hrm looks pretty good, but I don't think it works with the latest version of WP? I installed it with no errors, but I'm getting a feeling that it won't work.

It works but it's not a perfect solution. Anyone with an account in your site can get in there IIRC.

What about one of the userlevel plugins? I can't think of a specific one of the top of my head, but they do work quite well on regualr WP installs.

You can set posts so a user not only has to be logged in, but a certain role level to see anything. Crank it way up and you've locked everyone out.

Also, what about just marking each post as Private?

Userlevels might work. Do a check. If user is not subscriber at least for that blog, then die with the login box and a "This is a private blog" error.

Or if they "are" logged in, but not a subscriber, they get maybe a contact/reason page instead?

In the plugins I've seen, it just doesn't return any posts. Like they aren't even there. :) (Ie, they don't even know what they are missing.)