Private Message System (Page 12 of 14)

You have to agree with talonhawk that e-mail notification of new private messages is silly? - Cool. I got a message telling me I have a new message!

Besides that, on a large comunity site, what would the load be on the mail server each time a PM was submitted.  I get enough spam as it is. That counter to the punbb philosophy.  If PM is going to be a mod, then simple notification on the site is all that I think would be required.  (e.g. Logged in as Rickard, you have X # of new messages)

i would even suggest that email notification of new replies would be superfulous. however, that is more justifiable for most people.

>> You have to agree with talonhawk that e-mail notification of new private messages is silly?

I'm sorry but I totally disagree. A private messaging system that notifies me when I get a private message is a great tool. For example, perhaps I've sent a PM to someone to initiate a conversation on some topic. I run my own business so I can't sit there and wait. I'm off doing my work. But I check my email regularly - it's part of my job. So when I see that email from the Board telling me I've got a PM I know the person has repsonded. And I can then make time to go read it.

Also, a PM system isn't just about convenience, it's also about creating stickyness for the forum. And stickyness is good. People have to come back to the forum to get their messages. We all want our members to participate and giving them reasons like having private messages to read is as good as any other reason - if not better.

In fact, I participate on another forum where we call it stickymail. It's a highly valued addition to the board. For those of us who participate there often (I'm a mod) it's a great way to communicate about things we don't necessarily want in public.

And PM is a great way to remain anonymous if need be. Private messaging is a great way for us to communicate in private without revealing our contact info. People can converse in private without revealing an email address or personal name if they want.

Anyway. My 2p.

Well yeah that's a given - we're not arguing that.

that's the reason we have a PM system in the first place - otherwise it would just be an email.

We're not even arguing "pro-PM" or not.

it's the to-email-on-PM-or-not-to-email-on-PM that we're discussing here.

focus people!

and is chacmool purposely avoiding this thread?

Sorry for going OT.

Not necessarily. I'd rather go the Board in most cases because if it comes to my inbox I'm likely to read it and put off responding where as if I'm at the Board reading it, a response is only one click away.

In that case, you might as well use the board email form.

To give a practical example of the need for email notification: I just had an email from a member complaining because people had contacted him directly by email, from the forum. I think some members will never like being contacted directly by emails whereas they would accept an email notification. It's a small but important frontier for many people.

we can run in circles all day, but I think there's enough people that think the option to turn on/off email notifications of PMs is something that would be greatly welcomed.

you're right: my request for an email on a PM requires an entirely different mod.

best is to ask the original author of the mod first ... just in case ...

just wait for Chacmool its his project and i'm sure he'll do a good job of it, porting it to 1.2 isn't going to be as good as Chacmool rewriting the script for 1.2