Mod to view member PM's
- Thread starter fathom18
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- May 15, 2007
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- 426
Upon doing a quick search on the SMF website, I was unable to locate one.
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- May 13, 2007
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You could always go into the database directly. But you may want to reconsider. It's a pretty good way to get your members to revolt if they find out what you're doing.
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- Feb 18, 2007
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The official SMF position is that we will not help you read another user's personal messages, nor will we approve any mod on the customization site that offers the functionality.
If you feel that the PM system is being abused, it is recommended that you enable the "report to admin" feature of SMF, which will send a full, unaltered, copy of the PM along with the user's comments to all members in the administrator group.
I do agree with Nutt. Going through users' PMs is a quick way to lose trust and members. You'll have a difficult time getting both back.
If you feel that the PM system is being abused, it is recommended that you enable the "report to admin" feature of SMF, which will send a full, unaltered, copy of the PM along with the user's comments to all members in the administrator group.
I do agree with Nutt. Going through users' PMs is a quick way to lose trust and members. You'll have a difficult time getting both back.
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- Mar 25, 2008
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- 82
Is that even legal? lol.
But ye, i agree with the ppls above. Members would be pretty pissed if they found out that you read their PMs, like imaging if other people could read your PMs. Not cool lol. I'm wif the dude above who said to add a report button.
But ye, i agree with the ppls above. Members would be pretty pissed if they found out that you read their PMs, like imaging if other people could read your PMs. Not cool lol. I'm wif the dude above who said to add a report button.
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- Feb 18, 2007
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- 1,128
If you want to know for sure, consult a lawyer. Law changes by jurisdiction and situation, so learned legal advice is best.
In general (and speaking from a USA standpoint), the guide is "reasonable expectation of privacy". If your users have this in regards to their PMs, then you can get in trouble for looking into them. To avoid this, you must be sure it is very clear that they shouldn't have this expectation.
Of course, if you make it clear, you lose the trust of the users. If you don't say anything, snoop around, and it is found out then you have even more loss of trust and a possible situation on top of that.
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- Mar 1, 2007
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Totally wrong to read others pm's. Violation of privacy.
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- May 15, 2007
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To make sure you are covered you need to tell your users if you have the ability to read PMs. Maybe change the name from Private Messages to Messages that can be read by admins.
- Thread starter
- #10
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- Jan 8, 2008
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- 92
so why does that mean y9ou need to read the private messages of your users?
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- Apr 7, 2008
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Personally, I am totally against forums that have admins that read people's PM's. It is like reading someone's email.
I think if a forum wants to do that they need to be up front with tall members when they register and also put it in the FAQ section so people know. Otherwise it is sneaky and when people find out they tend to want to leave and not come back.
I belong to a very large political site that does that and they lied and said they can't.
I think if a forum wants to do that they need to be up front with tall members when they register and also put it in the FAQ section so people know. Otherwise it is sneaky and when people find out they tend to want to leave and not come back.
I belong to a very large political site that does that and they lied and said they can't.
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- Apr 3, 2008
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- 10
Why would you want to read others PMs ? Don't you trust anyone or are you insecure about something.
Leave the members PMs alone and you will have a better site and your members will stay,read their PMs and you might as well close your site because once they find out they will be gone.I know of a BIG site that has now gone because the admins were snooping where they really shouldn't.
Sorry but i feel really strongly about this.
Leave the members PMs alone and you will have a better site and your members will stay,read their PMs and you might as well close your site because once they find out they will be gone.I know of a BIG site that has now gone because the admins were snooping where they really shouldn't.
Sorry but i feel really strongly about this.
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- Jul 4, 2007
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- 70
I agree with the others - don't look at the private messages people send. It's privacy violation and people don't trust you anymore.
People shouldn't howerer use private messages to send confidential data. Use email / irc / im and if that's not enought, get PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) to encrypt your messages you send.
People shouldn't howerer use private messages to send confidential data. Use email / irc / im and if that's not enought, get PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) to encrypt your messages you send.
- Thread starter
- #16
Lol this thread is still going on, i get emails when someone responds. Yes people I have my reasons, and do not care what you guys think about it being wrong. Thanks youradhere4222 for seeing the real question i had asked lol, everyone else is blind. Please let this thread die... I already found what I was looking for.
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- Mar 25, 2008
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We saw the question, if we were blind we wouldn't have been able to give our opinion on whether it's right or wrong...
- Thread starter
- #18
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- Jun 12, 2008
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- 62
OK, out of the blue: does SMF allow administrators to read PMs on the board?
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2008
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- 62
I can understand some of the ethical concerns, but sometimes it might be necessary like when you have a member accused of harassment via PM or members exchanging personal information on other members behind their back. It's not pretty, but if you're an administrator, it's somewhat of a necessity. Just tell your users you have the capability of doing it and what situations will bring it on. I've had too many "he said, she said" messes.