I've never rped on a private or semi-private site so honestly I would think the semi-private label meant through invite-only like you said, or through some sort of extra communication through staff. I would probably stray away just for that reason, just anything remotely having to do extra is something I probably wouldn't do, but that's just me!
It sounds like the core of your site still isn't going to change much at all tho, just the label, so I don't think it'll be a huge shift if everything else you've said is written out in the rules. I think doing without "semi-private" would attract a few more people to the site who wouldn't have otherwise, and they're still subjected to the guidelines which are more specific than just the vagueness of a label that people can be quick to judge. So I don't see the harm in testing advertisements without it for a month or so since you can always just slap it back on if it gets too much to handle.
But that's just my thoughts on the matter, I think it depends more on your current member base on how they would feel about it since they'll be the ones affected. There's nothing inherently wrong with "semi-private," it just sounds like you're ready to grow from it, even just a little. Getting the balance between remaining small but still being active is a hard window to achieve u.u so I hope you find a solution you're happy with!
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