5 messages to reply to PM

driedfruit · Post by **driedfruit** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 6:18 am

Is a very good idea. However, this could lead you to a situation where you can't reply at all. Would it be nice if that feature was tweaked to allow replies to users who posted you?

I just don't feel right visiting random topics and adding irrelevant comments just to increase my post count.

What do you think?

YouTube · Post by **DavidIQ** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 12:22 am

That's a good point. But why did you get a PM from someone prior to your 5 posts?

Lumpy Burgertushie · Post by **Lumpy Burgertushie** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 12:33 am

did I miss something?
what are we talking about here?

robert

ToonArmy · Post by **ToonArmy** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 12:53 am

Lumpy Burgertushie wrote:did I miss something?
what are we talking about here?

robert

Users with under 5 posts cannot PM non team members here.

ric323 · Post by **ric323** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 3:31 am

I'd be very curious why a non Team member was PMing someone who had only made a couple of posts anyway.

Post by **Marshalrusty** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 5:04 am

driedfruit wrote:Is a very good idea. However, this could lead you to a situation where you can't reply at all. Would it be nice if that feature was tweaked to allow replies to users who posted you?

I just don't feel right visiting random topics and adding irrelevant comments just to increase my post count.

What do you think?

It's a fine idea, but there's no simple way to do it. It would be necessary to get a list of users who have PMed you in the past X time and then cross check that with the user who you want to PM. In others words, a bit of a mess.

As has been mentioned, I'm not sure who would need to PM you before your post count is 5. Realistically, you would have at least 1 posts for someone to even consider PMing you. That leaves only 4 before the restriction is lifted. On a board of this size, it is very easy to find 4 topics where you could contribute a wise thought, if you really must use the PM feature immediately.

igorw · Post by **igorw** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 10:05 am

It shouldn't be that hard actually. I believe phpBB stores a parent ID for PMs. A PM history is displayed when reading a pm.

Tsoe · Post by **Tsoe** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 3:25 pm

I only registered to this board to ask a mod develeper a simple question. Now I just noticed that I have to post five posts to be able to send PM messages. This is my first post

A_O_C · Post by **A_O_C** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 3:49 pm

Tsoe wrote:This is my first post

Posts dont count here...

Dan27 · Post by **Dan27** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 4:01 pm

A_O_C wrote:
Tsoe wrote:This is my first post
Posts dont count here...

Epic Fail

Highway of Life · Post by **Highway of Life** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 5:27 pm

Tsoe wrote:I only registered to this board to ask a mod develeper a simple question. Now I just noticed that I have to post five posts to be able to send PM messages. This is my first post

You should be using the MOD topic, not the PM system for such things.
Most people including MOD Authors get annoyed when users send them unsolicited PMs when they could have, and should have just posted their question in the MOD Support Topic where support and questions should be handled.

Tsoe · Post by **Tsoe** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 7:31 pm

Highway of Life wrote:
Tsoe wrote:I only registered to this board to ask a mod develeper a simple question. Now I just noticed that I have to post five posts to be able to send PM messages. This is my first post
You should be using the MOD topic, not the PM system for such things.
Most people including MOD Authors get annoyed when users send them unsolicited PMs when they could have, and should have just posted their question in the MOD Support Topic where support and questions should be handled.

The MOD Thread is locked

ric323 · Post by **ric323** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 10:20 pm

As HoL just stated.
That is WHY we have the restriction, both to stop spammers, and also to stop people signing up and immediately start sending indiscriminate PMs to people before learning that most communication should take place in public.

igorw · Post by **igorw** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 10:51 pm

The reason is primarily to prevent automated PM spam.

narqelion · Post by **narqelion** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 12:05 am

The OP makes an excellent point though. In effect, you are requiring new users to spam in order to gain access to the PM system. There are several members who advertise private/paid support services in their signatures, which is the only place it can be, based on your own forum rules. Take a novice web user, who perhaps inherited a forum from someone who didn't want to be bothered anymore, died etc... this user has no desire to learn the technical aspects of maintaining the forum but instead just wants to find somebody to do it for them. They browse the board, see a signature offering service and then try to contact them via PM, as usually directed in the sig, but then find out they cannot unless they've made 5 posts. What is this type of user going to post about in any of the forums where posts are counted? Seems kind of catch-22 to me.

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