Seeing others' private messages

[MAllie]

Am I alone in being unhappy that when I click on a profile one or two pms may be visible? What's the point in having the ability to send private messages if they won't necessarily be kept private.

Anyone clicking on my profile can see two messages sent to me (OK, innocuous, but still . . .), and a few minutes ago I clicked on someone's profile and up came a pm from someone else offering him a domain (in response to an earlier posting) together with the price.

The reason I'm posting is that I raised this before some time ago with no result.

 

[DN BROKER]

those are not PM's - they are visitor messages posted by another member.

 

[Gerry]

I think you are confusing PM's with Visitor messages that are public viewing in the profile.

 

[MAllie]

Well, if I am confusing pms with visitor messages, so must the person be who emailed another earlier with a private offer of a domain. If he had intended everyone to be able to see it, why not just post it on the thread? Could you please tell me how to avoid posting visitor messages by mistake when I mean to contact someone privately?

 

[DN BROKER]

pm them directly ... dont visit their profile and post a public message. Very Simple

 

[MAllie]

pm them directly ... dont visit their profile and post a public message. Very Simple

Thanks, Hope. But I wonder if it's fair that someone can make a mistake like that. Perhaps there should be a message above the box saying that other members than the one being addressed might be able to see the message that is currently being written, and explaining how to send a pm (as distinguished from a visitor message)? Failure might not be an option for you, lol, but we're not all as tech savvy. At least I'm not.

 

[Johnn]

You can turn them off from your profile setting.

 

[MAllie]

You can turn them off from your profile setting.

Thanks, Johnn. I will look at that. But my point is that there may be other members out there who don't know that a visitor message may show up on their addressee's profile. I think there should be a warning about this, suggesting that if the message is meant to be private they should be sure to send a direct pm.

 

[Johnn]

Members should check the profile and turn it off.
I don't really see the benefit of it at all.

 

[MAllie]

Members should check the profile and turn it off.
I don't really see the benefit of it at all.

Neither do I, and I'm definitely turning it off on mine. But since the function is there until it's disabled, I still feel that there should be something to warn people that they're not entering a pm but a visitor message that may be seen by others. Sorry if it seems I'm flogging a dead horse, but it just makes me uncomfortable to be inadvertently reading a message that is obviously not intended for my eyes.

 

[hina]

Perhaps there should be a message above the box saying that other members than the one being addressed might be able to see the message that is currently being written, and explaining how to send a pm (as distinguished from a visitor message)?

I agree that not all of us are tech-savvy. From usability point of view, this is a great idea. It is also easy to implement so why not?