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pm blocks


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Helene (or others)--I sent a pm to someone and I can look at my 'conversation' (the correspondences I sent out), the recipient has a little icon with the name on it, but underneath it, it says 'Block'. It also says 'not yet read'. As this is a relatively new member, it could be that you have to activate the pm function, or it may mean that the person blocks all pm's. I'd like to know how this works, because I took a look at my conversations with other members, and this 'block' doesn't show. If you click on the 'block', it then says 'unblock', so I just clicked it back. Just for the record, there would be no reason to have blocked me personally, since I'm on friendly terms with this member. I had forgotten all about the 'block' feature since the new system was put in place. I think you used to see it beside all users' names, but this is the first time I've seen it in the new system. Thanks for your help. (the person has definitely made enough posts to be able to use pm is (s)he wants to, I recall you had to do about 8 posts before your 'pm rights' were instated, at least in the old days). I'd like to know if, in general, some people put total blocks on their Messenger. That's cool if they do, I'd just like to know. I've never blocked anyone myself.

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I think it's there because this software is used by so many different kinds of sites that there are a variety of tools that may be relevant to some and not others. I think this one is there so we can block someone who is incessantly annoying, or whose comments are disturbing. I hope no one here would fall into those categories!

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Except now that I put the Unblock on, it says 'User is blocked and cannot participate'. When 'Block' is on, it says 'Last read. Not yet read'. But since I'd never sent this user a pm, there would be no reason not to read it, although there's no demand for a response. I don't know for sure what this is. So I don't know if it worked this time either. Not that serious. Maybe 'user' will see this and try to send me a pm.

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I haven't investigate much about the new PM system apart from the absurd set of notifications that are not tied together; i.e., if you read a message, only one of the two possible counters is affected. There are at least six ways to be notified about PM's (or "Personal Conversations" in the new terminology):

Pop-up with the message (like in the old software)

Counter next to the username (used to be in the menu next to the PM menu choice)

A little green box (must be turned on manually, and only appears if there are any messages.)

On the mobile app

By email

In the right column on the main page (only appears if there are any unread messages)

I never noticed that "Block" wasn't visible for all posters except Moderators and Administrators. The idea behind this is to be able to block specific people from sending PM's. On other boards there have been issues of harassment via PM, and in some software -- I haven't tested ours -- if a poster is put on "ignore", PM's are blocked as well.

It is possible to disable the PM feature from "My Settings", which is an option by clicking the down-arrow next to the sign-in name at the top of the page:

Settings (top tab)

Notification Options (left menu)

Under "Privacy Settings",

Clicking option 1 disables board email, which always sends the sender's registered email address to the receiver, but the receiver's email address is invisible to the sender. This is why a number of people disable board email.

Clicking option 2 is currently irrelevant, because we don't send email blasts.

Clicking option 3 disables PM for everyone, except Admins and Moderators, who can send PMs regardless of the state of the checkbox.

I need to poke around with this feature.

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Clicking option 3 disables PM for everyone, except Admins and Moderators, who can send PMs regardless of the state of the checkbox.[/indent]

This is primarily what I was asking Helene, thanks for that detailed response. I imagine there are some people who don't want to receive any kind of PM if they have the choice, so that's surely what it is in this case. We'll just leave it there, as it was nothing urgent, but this is rather complicated now technically. Also, the 'Block' being visible for all except mods and admins may be correct or not, considering that when I took a look at the older messages from other posters, I saw nothing of either 'Block' or 'Unblock', and this one I sent was relatively new--and in this one, only the 'as yet unread' showed, whether I clicked 'Block' or 'Unblock'.

I just looked again, just to see if I could figure it out. Some conversations I had with Cristian some months back would either show the 'Block' or not, this would sometimes have to do with whether he or I was the recipient or not. Even further back, a conversation with leonid says 'no longer available, deleted', but I never deleted it, and you can still read it. I also never have liked the user-unfriendliness of 'show/hide' things which 'Block' and 'Turn Notifications off' are: They really ought to say 'HIDDEN' or 'BLOCKED' after you've done it so you don't immediately see UNBLOCK, which can make you think it's Unblocked at first. But alas. I do agree with you that this is a needlessly messy PM system, but you answered the main question, which is that some people probably do block both their PM settings and their BT email.

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Clicking option 3 disables PM for everyone, except Admins and Moderators, who can send PMs regardless of the state of the checkbox.[/indent]

Also, the 'Block' being visible for all except mods and admins may be correct or not, considering that when I took a look at the older messages from other posters, I saw nothing of either 'Block' or 'Unblock', and this one I sent was relatively new--and in this one, only the 'as yet unread' showed, whether I clicked 'Block' or 'Unblock'.

I didn't explain this correctly, because I didn't mean to connect the Block/Unblock feature with this checkbox. The checkbox is only to do a blanket block on PM's, but this doesn't block Mod/Admin emails, which go through regardless of whether the option is chosen, and from the new documentation, Mod/Admin PM's also bypass the "mailbox full" setting.

I just looked again, just to see if I could figure it out. Some conversations I had with Cristian some months back would either show the 'Block' or not, this would sometimes have to do with whether he or I was the recipient or not. Even further back, a conversation with leonid says 'no longer available, deleted', but I never deleted it, and you can still read it.

I will check this out, since it's possible that the new functionality wasn't applied retroactively.

I also never have liked the user-unfriendliness of 'show/hide' things which 'Block' and 'Turn Notifications off' are: They really ought to say 'HIDDEN' or 'BLOCKED' after you've done it so you don't immediately see UNBLOCK, which can make you think it's Unblocked at first. But alas. I do agree with you that this is a needlessly messy PM system, but you answered the main question, which is that some people probably do block both their PM settings and their BT email.

I dislike this new functionality in so many ways.

It's also possible to ignore the counters and to miss the pop-ups, like in the old system, which might be why you're not getting an answer. That or unfamiliarity with the functionality. It takes a lot of poking around to find a way to turn off PM, which is why it wouldn't be my first guess. (On other board software, I clicked a link to a comment, accidentally closed the browser, and it took me two months to figure out that this type of comment was stored and how to retrieve it.)

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Helene--this Meesenger really is for the birds. The upshot of all this is that my correspondent answered me between 5 and 6 a.m., but I only found it by accident tonight, when I noticed that one of the notes sent 'had been read'. There was a second short accompanying one, and then I sent duplicates of both of these while I was discussing it with you and Alexandra, and the others all said 'not yet read', but I had left all of them unblocked. Also, I did not receive a notification of his response in my email, as I usually do with people (as last night from Alexandra when I was also asking her about this stuff).

the Messenger always said '0' today, well after he had responded, and there was not indication whatsoever of anything new having arrived. I ONLY discovered it because I was still trying to figure out how it worked! Not great.

Oh well, we are living with this system, and have to tinker with it. Once I told someone else to pm me about something, and a mod deleted it for some reason, so I didn't want to write it on the board that someone 'should check their pms', even though people on some of the overly informal blogs do that way too often about checking emails, but it isn't really usually that rude.

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