roger
28-04-2004, 03:05
We have had many issues recently regarding the use of the private messaging system. Up until now private messaging has been totally private between the sender and the recipient.
We are now getting an increasing number of complaints from forum members that they are being sent spam via PMs from realtors and other advertisers pushing themselves onto people, as well as in some circumstances content that is totally inappropriate.
As of Saturday 1st May 2004 please be aware the PM system will be monitored by the site owners to avoid such issues. If we hear reports from forum members that they are receiving such PMs we will then be able to investigate the senders and warn the sender (or remove the sender depending on the severity of the problem). The ‘Private Messaging’ system will be renamed as ‘Direct Messaging’.
This does not mean that myself and John are going to sit at our computers watching what is going on all day! We have better things to do, so please carry on using the PMs in the way you should. This is just to help prevent a minority of forum members who are clearly intent on doing other people damage. As the PMs are stored on our own server, we have a legal responsibility to ensure the content of all data on our server complies with the law (we can not allow for example a company to PM an individual with libelous content against another company or we can be held responsible).
Also note that any content in the PMs dated prior to 1st May will not (and can not) be viewed by us, so anything up to that date will remain totally private. Anything in the PM that we do see from 1st May will not be passed beyond John and myself and we assure you that anything seen on the PMs will not be made public under any circumstances.
The decision to do the above has not been taken lightly and it has come down to a choice between the above, and completely removing the PM facility and we feel for the time being this is the preferred choice.
We are now getting an increasing number of complaints from forum members that they are being sent spam via PMs from realtors and other advertisers pushing themselves onto people, as well as in some circumstances content that is totally inappropriate.
As of Saturday 1st May 2004 please be aware the PM system will be monitored by the site owners to avoid such issues. If we hear reports from forum members that they are receiving such PMs we will then be able to investigate the senders and warn the sender (or remove the sender depending on the severity of the problem). The ‘Private Messaging’ system will be renamed as ‘Direct Messaging’.
This does not mean that myself and John are going to sit at our computers watching what is going on all day! We have better things to do, so please carry on using the PMs in the way you should. This is just to help prevent a minority of forum members who are clearly intent on doing other people damage. As the PMs are stored on our own server, we have a legal responsibility to ensure the content of all data on our server complies with the law (we can not allow for example a company to PM an individual with libelous content against another company or we can be held responsible).
Also note that any content in the PMs dated prior to 1st May will not (and can not) be viewed by us, so anything up to that date will remain totally private. Anything in the PM that we do see from 1st May will not be passed beyond John and myself and we assure you that anything seen on the PMs will not be made public under any circumstances.
The decision to do the above has not been taken lightly and it has come down to a choice between the above, and completely removing the PM facility and we feel for the time being this is the preferred choice.