I've been a member for a short while and have a couple of questions please ... What is the difference in a conversation and a ..PM Sorry if this question sounds dumb but I've only ever replied to messages received as I'm not to sure if The conversations are just between two people or open for other members to view? (I have noticed where you can invite others to join in ) Thanks ...
Yes I'd like to know the difference between a Private message and a 'conversation' too, Kate. I understand you can invite others into a 'conversation' but even if you don't and you use it just to communicate between you and one other person with no others invited to join in.....is it still private..is it open to other to view even if they can't join in?
Good morning Ladies. @Kate Ellery @Holly Saunders. Ladies you are both right. A PM is just a private conversation between two people. The conversation doesn't have to pertain to the subject at hand. It could just be that you got online and someone wants to have a private conversation with you alone. Hope this helps.
Thank you von What I find hard to figure out is sent ME a message regarding and on the same page under the same heading ( subject ) another member mentioned the same subject so it appears that More than two of us were involved in the conversation, I'm just curious how private the conversation is, Sorry I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining, I just want to be sure if I pass on any confidential info to online friends that info remains just that Is the conversations actually the PM ..option Thanks
One does have to very careful when using PM for intimate or very private conversations. I do not know about this forum but on one in particular I WAS on, the moderator and administrator had access to the PMs. I got a report from a friend just last night that she and a friend of hers were discussing something they thought wrong about the administrator and they were both banned the next day. (which might have proven them right concerning the temper of the administrator) That being said, yes, PMs can be between more than two people depending on the settings of the forum you are on. BTW, I doubt seriously that Ken (here) would access ANY private messages even if he could. But it is still a thing to watch out for in any event. Not many forum owners have the strength in character that Ken does.
Here is my 2 cents worth. On this forum conversations are the same as PMs on some other forums. They are private but it can be between 2 people or more but that is up to the sender. Depends on how many names you put in the space. I have heard different replies about admin being able to read PMs. Some say Yes, some say No.
For the most part, the only difference between what is known as a "private message" or PM on some forums, and the "conversations" here is a matter of semantics. Xenforo uses conversations, and the person starting the conversation can invite whomever he or she wants to, so a conversation may involve more than two forum members. Xenforo, the forum software we are using here, does not allow administrators to view private conversations unless they are invited to do so. However, there is an add-on available for Xenforo that would allow administrators to do so. I am not using that add-on here.
Thanks Ken, Von, Chrisssy and Bobby, I think the answer is that ''conversations' on here are Private .... unless one invites someone else into the conversation..( a third person or more).....having been a Mod on another forum I can assure folks I never had access to PM's..but I've heard that yes there are unscrupulous Admin who can and do read PM's ..of course PM's have to be available for the owner of a forum to read if there's been abuse of the system by one member to another and they have to take action..but that's not the same as reading them routinely and Admin should and usually only ever take such an action if there's been a serious complaint of abuse by PM by another member. Thanks for clarifying !!
The reason why some administrators choose the option of being able to read private messages or conversations is to avoid someone abusing the forum or otherwise trying to do harm to the forum. For example, we had someone here a few days ago who spammed everyone on the forum through private conversations. He was caught quickly because many of you let me know about it, and because he also spammed my "Ken Anderson" account, which is set up as a regular member account. He did not spam the Admin account so if that were the only one I had, I wouldn't have known about it until someone told me. There are also people who will try to ruin a forum, either because they are angry or because they hope to recruit people for a competing forum. They will often do it by circulating lies or rumors by private message or conversation, including everyone but the administrators or moderators. That's probably the main reason why some administrators like to have that option available. Even so, I doubt that many of them actually read private messages unless they have reason to suspect that there is a problem. I can't vouch for that, however. As this forum is set up, I do not have that ability.
@Holly Saunders ...I was a global moderator on a private conservative forum and I couldn't read PM's either.
Ken, those involved in the conversation always know who the participants are, though, correct? In other words, someone can't invite additional people into the conversation without all participants being aware of who is seeing their words/content?
Yes, over on the right margin, there will be a section labeled "Conversation Participants," which will list those who have access to that conversation.
Yes, there's a column on the right of the conversation with a list of names included in the conversation.