I've looked all over, but for the life of me, I can't find an inbox, outbox or sent box for private messages. I can send one to another member, but hell if I can find anyplace to see if he's replied. Am I missing something, or is GRM.com missing something?
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Dec. 20, 2010 9:54 p.m. RealMiniDriver Dork
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Dec. 20, 2010 10:13 p.m. Toyman01 SuperDork
I think all Pms go to your regular email address. I won't swear to that, but it seems I read that somewhere.
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Dec. 20, 2010 10:19 p.m. JoeyM Dork
correct. It will be sent to the recipient's email address
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Dec. 20, 2010 11:03 p.m. Tim Baxter SuperDork
Because really, why should your personal messages be sitting in some forum owner's database somewhere?
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Dec. 20, 2010 11:30 p.m. MrJoshua SuperDork
Because that way everything grm related is easily accessible because it isn't buried in my personal email.
(I'm being snarky again
)
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Dec. 21, 2010 8:33 a.m. Marjorie Suddard General Manager
You want to work on that.
Margie
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Dec. 21, 2010 11:04 a.m. JoeyM Dork
....don't argue. I hear she's expanding the patio again.
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Dec. 21, 2010 4:55 p.m. RealMiniDriver Dork
Thank you for the replies.
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Dec. 21, 2010 5:38 p.m. MrJoshua SuperDork
JoeyM wrote:
....don't argue. I hear she's expanding the patio again.
Uh oh
! Concrete is so hard on my skin. 
Honestly, I was being snarky because Tim's comment came across as snarky and in no way is a shared opinion with all board members. Many of us didn't want to see the old PM system go.
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Dec. 21, 2010 5:46 p.m. BoxheadTim SuperDork
I wasn't part of the forum back when the old PM system was still in place but I do prefer the system that is in place on this forum to the various other forums I frequent, especially the ones that send you content-free 'new message' notifications.
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Dec. 21, 2010 6:03 p.m. 4 Pumpkin Escobar's of fury SuperDork
BoxheadTim wrote:
I wasn't part of the forum back when the old PM system was still in place but I do prefer the system that is in place on this forum to the various other forums I frequent, especially the ones that send you content-free 'new message' notifications.
+1
I like it the way it is!
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Dec. 21, 2010 6:21 p.m. Tim Baxter SuperDork
Honestly, whether you have them go to email or storing the messages on the server, it's a wash as far as difficulty goes. It's just as easy to write 'em to a database table. Probably easier over the long haul, 'cause you don't have to worry about people's emails getting out of date. For that matter, you could write to database AND send an email notification with two extra lines of code.
But private messages should be just that: private. Between person A and person B. When they're stored in a database anyone with access and idle curiousity can go look at them. Or worse, as jalopnik has shown us lately, if the system is ever compromised all your personal messages aren't personal anymore.
There's no snarkiness there. I genuinely believe that when people store your personal, private messages on the server they're not doing you any favors at all. In other words, I think pretty much all other forum software does it wrong.
There are definitely things about this forum I would do differently if I were doing it now. Hell, I was changing things right up til the day I left. But the PM system I would do pretty much exactly the same way.
In general, I think the only information a website should store about you is information you've explicitly allowed to be public. No private information should be stored. The one big exception is your email address, which basically has to be stored but should NEVER be public, on the site OR in the code -- something else almost all other forum software gets wrong.
Undoubtedly it's difficult adjusting to different ways of doing things, and the question of "why don't you just do it like everyone else" will surely come to mind. But there's a good reason: I take your privacy and security a lot more seriously than other forum software writers appear to.
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Dec. 21, 2010 7:12 p.m. MrJoshua SuperDork
Thank you for the explanation Tim. I do prefer the old method and I do believe it offers some benefits. The foremost benefit is keeping everything GRM related at GRM. We store car pictures here, we talk about our lives here, we buy and sell things from each other, etc.. I get tons of valid emails worthy of saving related to the various things I do in my life and the interactions that I have with GRM members get lost in the shuffle. If I want to contact the guy I bought a part from a year ago it is easier to look at my PM list than search my Gmail. Turning PM's into emails also takes one of the "Community" components out of the community. With PM's you talk to other people from here, on here in a slightly more private setting. Sending them to email is like saying if you want to have a private chat in a corner at our bar then get out of our bar and have it elsewhere. The bar is no longer important.
Overall this complaint is minor. Tim, I apologize for misreading your comment as snarky and replying in kind. I like this place and I'm not going anywhere. -
Dec. 21, 2010 7:30 p.m. Zomby woof Dork
I prefer having them on the forums server. That way, if I want to save them, I don't have to find a way to keep them organized. For people that are on a number of different forums, that might be a lot of PM's.
I have had over 3000 on one alone at one time. I don't think i get more an a dozen a year from there, though.
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Dec. 22, 2010 6:09 a.m. Marjorie Suddard General Manager
Thanks for the suggestions, you guys. We have a lot on the table to discuss with the website design firm next, and it really helps us know what to ask (and want) when we get an idea of what works for you. (And MrJ, no problem--I appreciate your caring enough to get snarky about it.)
Margie
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Dec. 22, 2010 7:32 a.m. DILYSI Dave SuperDork
Marjorie Suddard wrote:
Thanks for the suggestions, you guys. We have a lot on the table to discuss with the website design firm next, and it really helps us know what to ask (and want) when we get an idea of what works for you. (And MrJ, no problem--I appreciate your caring enough to get snarky about it.)
Margie
vBulletin.
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Dec. 22, 2010 8:11 a.m. RealMiniDriver Dork
Not storing PMs on the board's server makes sense, from a security standpoint. But, Zomby's point is also valid. It helps keep GRM conversations separate from other forum conversations, to avoid confusion.
I typically use PMs to discuss things that don't need to be on the main board, taking up space that's irrelevant to everybody else, but not to the point of trading vital information - credit card numbers, home address, etc. I take it to e-mail at that point.
The reason I brought this up stems from a Dream. Rather than further hijacking someone's thread about his beautiful project cafe racer when someone indicated he wants a Honda Dream, I sent a PM. It was at that point that I discovered no area for PMs within the forum.
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Dec. 22, 2010 8:59 a.m. MrJoshua SuperDork
I would be all for something that notifies you of the PM and includes the message in the notification email.
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Jan. 2, 2011 7:07 p.m. dean1484 Dork
I think I may be in the minority here but I like the current system of PM's going to email. If i "PM" some one I will get the answer much faster via email that if I have to remember to go and look at the forum. And if you are going to send me an email saying I have a PM why not just send the message? As for organizing can keeping emails & PMs Make a GRM folder in your email reader and put them there. I have a general automotive folder where all automotive related emails end up that I think are worth saving.
The down side to not having forum hosted PM is that we get to communicate with out having to go back and see all the adds and banners etc. By having direct email based PM's it actually lowers a sites hit count. The reason many sites have self contained PM's is it will increase there hit count enough to make a difference when trying to get advertisers.
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Jan. 2, 2011 7:11 p.m. turbojunker HalfDork
DILYSI Dave wrote:
Marjorie Suddard wrote:
Thanks for the suggestions, you guys. We have a lot on the table to discuss with the website design firm next, and it really helps us know what to ask (and want) when we get an idea of what works for you. (And MrJ, no problem--I appreciate your caring enough to get snarky about it.)
Margie
vBulletin.
+1
