I started rolling out the new private message system tonight. The old email a user function has been removed. The new PM system is pretty self-explanatory. You can change your message setting preferences. The PM system supports tiem zone correction for messages (unlike the forum). So adjust your UTC timezone offset in the messaging preferences. You can also control if you want to receive emailed notifications of new private messages. Play with it. Test it out. It's completely basic but there's much there to allow many new features in the future. Edited by - Drew Black on Aug 18 2011
^^ Looks good Drew. It was the first thing I noticed when I logged on the site. I'm a little stunned to see it up and running as I always thought that a new private message system was just an ADT urban legend.
I just now notices the messages link at the top of my screen. Looks good! Nice location. Edit - Just looked everything over. Looks really good. Nice and simple.
Do you think we'll need a 'report a spammer' option for the PM system? I hope users don't try to spam other users through private messages. There are limits in place to prevent too many messages being sent in various timeframes.
BTW, the 'new message' email notifications are delayed by 5 minutes. This gives people time to read a message here on the site if they happen to be logged in. If a message is read within this 5 minute window an email notification is not generated. It will cut down on the amount of email we generate.
I thought about that. The hard part is that the whole world doesn't do daylight savings changes at the same time. I also don't have a geolocation function to make a decent guess where someone is located. That's a lot of extra work just to do a DST feature. I'll send out administrative reminders to people when daylight savings changes here in the US. This will prompt them to change their offset. That's a lot simpler to implement.
What about a catchall button to report any abusive PM to either a mod or admin? Would it be possible to set it up to both report the offending PM and block the sender at the same time?
Also, I don't know if this is a problem, something I did wrong or if something just reset since I last looked but last night, I unchecked the "notify me by email when I have a new PM" and today when I looked, it was checked again. I did hit the update button so it should have worked, I think. Edited by - randomprecision on 8/3/2011 4:08:06 PM
That was me making changes to everyone's profiles. I screwed up something late last night and fixed it today. The "fix" overwrote your change in settings. I don't plan any more mass updates again.
I could do that. I assume you mean block the sender from sending you additional messages? Or do you mean block the sender from sending anyone private messages? edited to add: There isn't currently a way to 'forward' a message to an admin/mod/anyone. I do not think I'll add one. So I'm trying to figure out how the spam report should be handled. It would be nice if we could just trust people that report spammers but there are some untrustworthy scoundrels on this site and we'd need a way to review the offending message to decide of the spammer should be banished or praised. Edited by - Drew Black on 8/3/2011 4:12:55 PM
Just block the sender from sending that particular person any more messages. Would be way too easy to abuse it the other way.Well, just the ability to block them should work OK. I think that's already there. Maybe if it isn't a lot of trouble just a clearly marked "Block this spammer" button in every PM so it's really easy. Or maybe it's already easy and that would just be redundant? I don't have any PMs yet so I haven't tried blocking anyone to see how it works. Edit - OK. I just sent myself a test message and I see there is already an easy way to block the sender. So basically, it's up to you whether or not you want to add the capability to report spammers easily. Maybe you could just add another link/button to report spam and tie it into "PM a mod". Then the user would just copy and paste the offending PM and send it to a mod or whatever. Edited by - randomprecision on 8/3/2011 5:47:47 PM
It will wait 5 minutes to send an email notifying you that you have a new private message. If you're logged into the site you will see the new message indicator immediately after a new message is sent. I will be working on integrating the login/topics/messages stuff in the top right corner throughout the whole website. That way you don't have to visit the forum to see if you have a private message. After that I'll write a background webworker that will query the web server for new messages kinda like the way Facebook works. That way you won't have to reload a web page to be notified that you have a new message.
Will it e-mail you after 5 min if you are logged in and don't notice that you have one? Only asking because there is a good chance that until I get used to it I won't notice a number up there and it would be nice if the system e-mails idiots like me.
It will email you if the message is unread within 5 minutes of it being sent. It doesn't matter if you're logged in or not. Unread messages get notified via email 5 minutes later IF the user's PM settings have the "Notify me via email when I have a new message" option selected in their private message preferences
We haven't really done an official announcement for the new PM system. Some people have noticed it and started using it. I am still working on integrating it into the site at which point it will be obvious to most users. (Drew)
#SDNY he's all yours. -- Michael Steele 5110 Posts 3/03
Posted - Aug 7 2011 : 3:48PM
Is there a way that a notification could be added to the bottom of the page? Maybe a flashing one? I spend most time with the thread scrolled all the way to the end, so I would be more apt to notice the notification if it was down there.
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This is an Avatar Quote 9 Posts 8/06
Posted - Aug 7 2011 : 3:51PM
I plan to eventually write the code to make the page title update when you have a new message. That way you will see the tab in your browser change to "1 new message" or something along those lines. So even if you're scrolled elsewhere on the page you will still see the tab update.
All the moderators in a forum get a copy of the message. It's part of a send-to-group feature that I haven't completely rolled out yet. Eventually everyone will be able to define their own groups of recipients for messages. The message-a-moderator function uses some of that code behind the scenes. The message will be in the sender's sent items as going to a single moderator but that will change when message groups are implemented fully.
Hi Drew, I've just tested the PM system and I noticed 2 tiny problems: - on the Sent Items page, the Sent To column is empty. - on the Read Message page, the To: field is also empty.
I liked in the old system when you got a moderator email to highlight a thread it was a clickable link and you could go to that thread, now you have to cut and paste it- a small change but one I noticed right away.
That's a good point. That's probably coming if there if there is an html within IM upgrade. The thing I see for messages to the mods, there isn't a way to respond to the sender. Or to know if the other mods already responded. Not a biggie, I just find the guy in the forums and send a IM. I know sometimes people just send moderation alerts but there are sometimes questions too. (And are forum mods listed anymore?) Do we want to have it so that a mod can respond to the message with a cc to the other mods of that forum.
I'm not able to reproduce the problem where you can't reply to a sender's moderator note. If it happens again can you forward me the sender's username via PM so I can look into the database tables to see what's going on? Moderators should be able to PM anyone regardless of their PM settings or mailbox full status. I will add the list of forum moderators back into the page. I stripped it out and forgot to replace it with something different. When I complete the group message functionality you will be copied on any responses from other moderators to the originator. That's coming. I need to do a few more things around the site first.
I can go to the forum and email him, but not from the message in the inbox. Maybe I'm just not seeing it. I'll copy and paste the message in an IM to you.
I'm sorry--I've looked all over. How do I SEND a PM? I click on the Messages link in the upper right and I can see where my message list is (none), sent list, etc. But nothing where I can create a new one. Also tried looking at the profile of the person I wanted to PM, but no link there. I apologize if it's right in front of me, but I can't figure it out.
Jayo if i was going to message you i would check one of your posts and click on the envelope icon which i have circled in the image below.Hopefully the person you are going to message has set there profile to allow PM messages from posters.
Okay, I be an idiot. Thanks. In my defense, I've seen that icon for years and knew it didn't work, so I've been mentally editing it out. That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.
I defaulted the PM setting to mimic what the user had previously with the old system. So if they accepted forum emails the default was to accept private messages. Anyone that hasn't visited the site in over 2 years had their default PM setting as "don't accept messages".
Posted - Aug 2 2011 : 11:52PM
That too, would be a good addition...
