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Ok, I am a member of a lot of communities, and at times I get bombarded with spam or abusive messages (who me? never...); and I have always hoped for one feature alone as an owner of several websites to thwart such things...

A way for members to "alert" the message in question to an admin so that they can monitor users and know who's contacting who about differant abusive issues...

What do you think of a link that flags the message for admin oversight? Kinda like what MySpace has...


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Thankfully, my users have alerted me to scum bags who register only to PM spam to people.

I hear what you are saying. You want to know what is going on, on your board. However, it can get into dangerous territory if your users think you are monitoring their private communications.

A simple way is to put up a post asking users to let you know about any spam/abusive messages and who sent them.

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see, i'm looking at an option to just flag specific messages; theres nothing to stop me from opening PHPMyAdmin and reading pm's, so it's not like it'd be anything differant short of users alerting to abusive pt's and spam...


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wouldn't it be easier if people could only send PM's after a set number of posts?

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Originally Posted by Ian
wouldn't it be easier if people could only send PM's after a set number of posts?
Not nessessarily, if they made an automated tool capable of registering and validating an account; having it spam through various threads woudln't be that hard, which would then put them "in the positive" to send pm's... Few new hurtles yes, making it impossible, no


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I think its just something that goes on, and if members had any idea that there private messages could be read "easily" then you would loose them.

Private is Private IMO
Next it will be x-ray machines lol

Originally Posted by Ian
wouldn't it be easier if people could only send PM's after a set number of posts?


Could be a solution / not perfect, but i dont think there
is one that's going to keep everyone happy.


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yeh but then you're on the members honor that the user is being abusive in pm's if you can't validate it...

It's not like you can't read the pm's... as an admin you can "become" the user and read their mail, or you can poke through phpmyadmin, so it's not like they're completely hidden from the admin to be viewed in the first place...

My sugguestion is meerely so that users can flag a message for an admin to sort out the users in an easy manner; you are afterall responsible for your users safety and spam on your site...


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I agree here with Giz. I have had members harassed by other members who have around for a while through pm's. I really do not like logging in as someone, especially to validate the issue. And having to poke around phpmyadmin can get old too.

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Agreed, you shouldn't EVER have to login as a user for anything; by having people able to flag a message, it'll show exactly what the issue at hand is without having to violate any privacy (unles the message is really obsene, which would make it kind of awkward)


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Same reason I think there should be a switch to turn off all emails to a user. As of now you have to login to remove there watched list emails wink

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So if i get this right, and i think i'm agreeing with you now, is that if a member flags a Priavte message for the attention of, then Admin can view it?

And if they dont we cant wink

Makes sense,
we all know there is a DB option

Good idea,
members used to just copy the contents or forward there e-mail
notification to me in classic.


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Originally Posted by Mark S
So if i get this right, and i think i'm agreeing with you now, is that if a member flags a Priavte message for the attention of, then Admin can view it?

And if they dont we cant wink
Yes! Basically a notice will arrive in the CP saying "there are x pm's alerted for abuse" and "There are X pm's alerted for spam"... then you click on it, and it displays THAT MESSAGE, nothing more, nothing less; then you can decide to enact upon it, or dismiss the alert...


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[Linked Image] Got yu.


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Very, very, very good idea. More control of PMs is a must nowadays due to the way in which spammers abuse this feature.

The Admin should be able to:

- limit this feature accodring to a users # of posts/date of registration, this way newbie registrations cannot start sending PMs straight away

- limit the number of PMs users can send daily/weekly, or at least alert the admin quietly if a user is sending more than X amount of messages daily

- filter PM content for abuse. This would first and foremost scan for certain key words or URLs, but also if a user decides to cut&paste the same message over and over then the system would alert the Admin that someone is sending the same message numerous times.

- PM search feature: the Admin should be able to do a forum-wide scan of all PMs in search of certain words, much like searching regular posts. When a spammer is uncovered there might be a URL he is sending out that is not on the banned/watched list - by scanning all PMs the Admin would be able to track down his accomplices who might also be spamming users with the same info.

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Well, my sugguestion would rely on users actually reporting if there is a problem; and only that PT would be listed in the CP to be looked at.

The idea of filters is overkill, and searching users pm would be a privacy issue as anyone could read them from the cp. I simply want only abuse queries listed...


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The PM feature is where forums are most vulnerable to mass-spam attempts.

I am very open about the PM feature with regards to users and they know the rules: the PM feature allows them to share information without posting it publicly, but they know that the Admin has the right to check PMs when there is even a hint of spamming activity going on.

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I hear what you're saying, but isn't that what the "Ignore User" feature is for? whistle The person can ignore the other, then alert the Admin who can take action depending on the complaint(s)...


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well, yeh; BUT, ignores aren't reported to admin's; so you'd potentially go without notifications of abuse...


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