The point MostlyModerate, is that any organisation that has a secret membership list is by definition, a secret society.
I am well aware of the excellent example set by the Scottish members who parade annually so that anyone can see who their members are.
Why the English membership do not is open to question. But it is this very act that brings so much suspicion and ill-informed rumours upon the Masonic movement.
Which, from my limited experience of some excellent men who are members, seems a pity.