I posted a topic with the intention of unapproving it immediately since I wasn't ready for it to be public and wasn't sure when that would be. I posted it and immediately unapproved it, but members got the email notification through watched content of the topic. It'd be nice if you added 'Unapprove Topic' to the After Posting field to where a topic is immediately unapprove when submitting it and doesn't send out watched content notifications.

Agreed - I have to create topics in a hidden forum and then move them when required.

Linked to this, I would like the ability to when approved under these circumstances to update the date and time of posting to now.

Great suggestion. It'd also be quiet useful to allow us to specific approval/unapproval times just like lock/unlock times.

I have an idea (gee, big surprise right?)..

Not as a replacement for being able to hide a post, but an alternative that could serve other benefits too.

"Save as Draft". Sort of like making the post and still only available to those with the right permissions (ie, moderators, globals, admins). Then when the post is ready for public viewing, it could be posted instead of drafted. When it's actually posted, it would use the posted date/time (not the drafted time). The ability to hide a post while posting it would definitely be nice and so I'm for it. Just be nice to have a draft option too. Be able to decide which groups can use the draft feature also.

sounds great :)