Are private messages

[mommasita]

Yup, they can.

The reason I say yup, is because I got a big warning for doing something that a MOD said was against the rules. In PM a lady contacted me about helping her find a med cruise. She told me what she was looking for. I did a quick search and sent her a link to the different cruise lines that I thought would fit what she was looking for. I had no plans to do any booking with her from the start. Honestly I didn't want the business. Still don't! She came to me, not the other way around. I was accused of soliciting business. The only contact I had with this women was via pm. So my pm's were either read or she turned me in.

Often this is the case Amlee. The poster reports it or copies and pastes it to someone else.

I will chime in with the other Mod's...I have ability to read ONLY my own PM's.

I really have no interest in anyone else's anyway...

 

[dananbethany]

On any message board you must assume that someone at the top of the food chain can read PMs. Do they? Well, I can't see why they would. I'm sure my PMs are just not that fascinating.

Exactly, just as I don't believe the government really wants to listen into fifteen hundred telephone conversations about what people want for supper, I don't believe the mods would just want to sit there and read fifteen hundred PMs about...well, whatever people send PMs about.

 

[Caskbill]

Moderators cannot read PM's.

Tech Support cannot read PM's, and Tech Support has administrative rights 'powers' much higher than regular moderators, and in some cases we can do things that even regular WM's cannot do.

To the best of my knowledge, even regular webmasters do not have access to read PM's.

 

[Master Mason]

I dont believe anything on the internet is private. I know work emails are not private, and I believe the disboards is part of the vb systems, in which the owners, webmasters, et el do have access to PM's -

I thought this was common knowledge on any message board... back with my first message board ivillage - it was known that pm's werent "private" but not all the moderators had access to PM's, just a 'select" few...

I guess it depends on the system used, I am an Admin at 2 sites, and an owner of another that uses pphpb software, I can not read PM's on any of those sites.

 

[Amlee]

Nothing that is written in this world is private with possible exception to wills, love letters and the occasional scribblings on a cocktail napkin.

Did you know many doctor's offices are outsourcing their dictation to India?!

How about that the privacy policy thing you sign at the drug store does not exclude system developers from pulling up your files?

Even our own government has been looking into using outsourcing for processing our tax returns.

How very Dan Brownish!

You people showd read his "Digital Fortress" Now that is a book that will scare the crap out of you!

 

[Amlee]

Often this is the case Amlee. The poster reports it or copies and pastes it to someone else.

I will chime in with the other Mod's...I have ability to read ONLY my own PM's.

I really have no interest in anyone else's anyway...

Who knows, but it left a very bad taste in my mouth about this site.

 

[dananbethany]

Who knows, but it left a very bad taste in my mouth about this site.

Er...so you're wanting people to read your PMs? Send them to me, I never get any!

 

[lsyorke]

I run a site that uses Vbulletin....someplace in the data base WITH alot of searching for terms there is access to pm's. It's not as simple as "admins can read pm's". Believe me, with a site this big no one is searching pm's looking for a stray term. I have never, nor ever want to read pm's..there's enough drama on the public part of the site!

BUT, a pm is only as private as the person you send it to AND if you respond to an automatic email notification that you have a pm(which happens ALL the time), it will go to the admin/mod with the pm copied in that notification. I've seen MANY pm's this way on my site.

 

[Amlee]

Er...so you're wanting people to read your PMs? Send them to me, I never get any!

No, the fact I got accused of something I didn't do. I have NEVER approached anyone on this website, about booking travel for them. Never have and never will.

 

[rentayenta]

My guess is they have the ability. I can't say whether they do or not but can't imagine they have the time or inclination. On that note, I like email best!

 

[Wishing on a star]

I would never assume that anything over the net is private..

NOTHING is private...

No matter what you hear, there are those who could have access to PM's...
They could very easily choose certain posters or certain topics, keystrokes, weblinks, etc... to flag them and keep their eye on them.

Most mods may have no personal knowledge or ability.....

But, that does not mean it doesn't happen.

 

[Wishing on a star]

I can't believe that anyone would not see that there IS the inclination to monitor this board and the posters here...

1.....2.....3.....POOF!!!

 

[Mackey Mouse]

"I can't believe that anyone would not see that there IS the inclination to monitor this board and the posters here..."

I am assuming you meant to say moderate these boards....we do in fact moderate the boards and it is the reason that guidelines are in place....for the posters to follow and the moderators as well.

 

[mumom95]

Of course the private messages can be monitored. They are part of the larger database. A system administrator can even run queries to find what they are looking for in private messages, without having to read everyone of them.

The regular moderators may not have the ability. But some of the system administrators must have access to the entire database, or else they wouldn't be able to do maintenance on the database.

Moderators, do you know if the webmaster has access to the private messages?

 

[Mackey Mouse]

If that question is directed to me, I will answer it to the best of my ability.. It has always been my understanding that the private messages are indeed private and that no one has access to them other than those who are sending and receiving them.

 

[rt2dz]

I would never assume that anything over the net is private..

NOTHING is private...

No matter what you hear, there are those who could have access to PM's...
They could very easily choose certain posters or certain topics, keystrokes, weblinks, etc... to flag them and keep their eye on them.

Most mods may have no personal knowledge or ability.....

But, that does not mean it doesn't happen.

Not if they're using the DIS search function; they'll never get anywhere.



Sorry, it was getting a little serious in here.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

Shouldn't the OP PM herself and ask "Who can read this?"





Sorry... it's the Sangria typing!

 

[Mackey Mouse]

"Not if they're using the DIS search function; they'll never get anywhere."

Good one, you made me LOL..

 

[mumom95]

If that question is directed to me, I will answer it to the best of my ability.. It has always been my understanding that the private messages are indeed private and that no one has access to them other than those who are sending and receiving them.

If this is true, then what happens if there is some sort of technical problem in the private message part of the database, if noone has access, how will they fix it?

I realize you probably do not know that answer. I'm just trying to point out that it is a bit ridiculous to think that there is an area of this message board that noone has access to. Someone has to be able to fix it if something goes wrong.

 

[Chipmunk89]

I would never assume that anything over the net is private..

NOTHING is private...

No matter what you hear, there are those who could have access to PM's...
They could very easily choose certain posters or certain topics, keystrokes, weblinks, etc... to flag them and keep their eye on them.

Most mods may have no personal knowledge or ability.....

But, that does not mean it doesn't happen.

Wishing on a Star, You took the words right out of my mouth. No one has time to monitor them all, so certain topics or posters (you know who you are) would flag the powers.



Eh - Oh!