Should admins be allowed to read members pms?

Discussion in 'Member and Staff Management' started by cpvr, May 14, 2011.

  1. cpvr

    cpvr Regular Member

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    I've seen a few online communities - where the owner, or staff members are able to read their member's PMs,

    But, what do you guys think about this? Is it right to do?
     
  2. JamieB4

    JamieB4 Regular Member

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    No! Why? They are Private Messages or Personal Messages.
     
  3. SpacewardAsh

    SpacewardAsh Lurking From Space

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    It is my belief that if something is truly private, it should be sent via email, and not via the forums PM system.

    The system is also very handy in catching abusers because not everyone will report or forward the PMs, so as long as there is a clear message that the administration may read PMs, I don't see the harm in the system.
     
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  4. Kaiser

    Kaiser Regular Member

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    I agree, it really depends on your niche if you should have this feature implemented, so if you run an Webmaster forum its best to have it to see if anyone is abusing it.
     
  5. Coastercraze

    Coastercraze Regular Member

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    IMO, there's a report button in all PMs, so there's no real need to read everyone's PMs as they can report the bad ones to you :) Much easier that way, at least for me.
     
  6. Kaiser

    Kaiser Regular Member

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    Most dont report them.. so its best to have both and not just one.
     
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  7. Jack

    Jack Regular Member

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    I do think they should have the option if they wish.
     
  8. SpacewardAsh

    SpacewardAsh Lurking From Space

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    why do you say that?
     
  9. Ashley

    Ashley Regular Member

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    Yeah, but on the other hand, you wouldn't believe at how many people would be afraid to report them... so really, as long as the mod isn't abused by your other staff members, I see nothing wrong with checking PMs for proof of claims or anything like that.
     
  10. timestandstill

    timestandstill Regular Member

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    I don't shit through PMs just for lulz, but if someone reports one and I feel the need to view the entire conversation, I will do it.
     
  11. Trombones13

    Trombones13 Regular Member

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    For the record, any admin with PHPMyAdmin access can see PMs in the database, as far as I know, so if it's something that's truly private, take it somewhere else. Like timestandstill said, I wouldn't go reading them just for the heck of it, but I feel that it would be appropriate to read them if an issue arose, since it happened on my site, after all.
     
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  12. Rankin

    Rankin Regular Member

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    I think they should be able to have a quick look through member's PMs to check for any abusers, as Ashley said, but apart from that, I don't think they should read the PMs.
     
  13. Kaiser

    Kaiser Regular Member

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    Yea, nothing is ever private on the internet. Forum Admins can always view PMs either through phpmyadmin, or if they have any special mod installed. I dont have any reason to go through PMs either, I just monitor the PMs once in awhile, and if it looks suspicious (The PM Title) I will read it.
     
  14. Ashley

    Ashley Regular Member

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    I don't read others' PMs just for the heck of doing it either. Only like in your situation, if someone reports one, or even if it doesn't get reported and something suspicious comes up, then I'll check out the whole conversation so I can get the whole picture. I never read PMs for fun or games either.
     
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  15. Queen of Ice

    Queen of Ice Regular Member

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    I think in some forum software TOS it's illegal to do that... It's called "private" message for a reason.

    But I do agree that sometimes exceptions can be made, such as if a user is scamming other users or is harassing someone.
     
  16. Kaiser

    Kaiser Regular Member

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    In some countries it's illegal also, but as Trombones had mentioned above nothing is truly private on the internet. So you have to be careful.
     
  17. SpacewardAsh

    SpacewardAsh Lurking From Space

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    It's been bashed many times at phpbb.com which is probably why such mods find it hard to get validated, as the author gets fed up of all the flaming made against them for creating such a mod.
     
  18. Kaiser

    Kaiser Regular Member

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    I dont see a reason why people do that, you either use it or you don't
     
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  19. Brandon

    Brandon Regular Member

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    The owner of the forum should always have the right to see anything posted on their server, so IMHO an admin should have the option to read PM's if needed.
    This doesn't mean the admin is going to go over every PM that gets sent. It's generally used to clear up any misunderstanding or if there is bullying going on in the forums.

    PS.. in my years of running forums I think I've read 5 pm's on 2 separate occasions that resulted in a member ban.
     
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  20. SpacewardAsh

    SpacewardAsh Lurking From Space

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    I agree, the only PMs I tend to look at are ones with weird subject titles as not everyone will report PMs, especially if you get a human spammer come on and decide to randomly PM a handful of inactive accounts, etc.
     
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