Should Private messages be private.

Your friend don't know what he is talking about!

quote:

Originally posted by unclegus:
Your friend don't know what he is talking about!

He sure does.

I don't think anything is really private on the internet. I would not be surprised if it were true. I wouldn't pm anything personal on here just for that reason. BUT, I am a little paranoid about that kind of thing, so maybe it's just me.

reading of private messages by mods is:

a)legal
b)easy for mods
c)practiced by local mods
d)all of the above

you guess...

We should do a survey!

At least people now know that private messages are not private.

I just wonder about the kind of people who get kicked off the TD forums and then become moderators elsewhere. These very same people then seem to be spying on people on those message boards.
If I was a woman, it would make me very uneasy. Think about it, alot of your personal info is given when you join. You send a pm to someone giving your name and contact info and one of these creeps is reading it.

I know for a fact at FreeForums, their format does not allow reading of PMs.

The internet is probably one of the least private places in the world. It's never a good idea to post personal information about yourself or your family online or anything else that you wouldn't want the whole world to read or know.

quote:

Should Private messages be private?

Yes. They SHOULD be private but you never really know for sure.

Being a new member to the forum, I made sure I read the TOS in depth. This is an interesting topic that I hadnt thought about. From the TimesDaily Terms of Service:


"All materials published on TimesDaily.com (including, but not limited to news articles, photographs, images, illustrations, audio clips and video clips, also known as the "Content") are protected by copyright, and owned or controlled by The Tennessee Valley Printing Company, TimesDaily, TimesDaily.com, or the party credited as the provider of the Content."

Private Messages are published to forums.timesdaily.com, which I would think makes them fall within the above statement as being 'owned' by the TimesDaily.

"You agree that any submissions you make to the Service (e.g. Commentary, Photographs) may be edited, removed, modified, published, transmitted, displayed, or used in any other way by TimesDaily.com and its licensees in any and all media, whether now known or hereafter devised."

**ANY SUBMISSIONS**

I didnt see one word in the TOS that states your private messages are private from the forum moderators. Private probably means other members cant see them. I would expect that many forums are this way......

I do agree that they should be private, I just dont see anything that makes them private.....

quote:

Originally posted by Lets Go Jeepin':
I do agree that they should be private, I just dont see anything that makes them private.....

I'm with you. I read the terms of service at the forum in question and their language was very similar, just not all inclusive.
I think people aught to know that there are low life creatures who are made moderators who will read their pm's.

I just never imagined until my friend told me about it. It seems that some of the moderators at that site were banned from this forum.

I don't think it's possible to see PMs. I help moderate on another forum. They use forumotion. I've never seen an option to view members' PMs. I suppose it could be different with TD Forums, but I kind of doubt it.

I disagree that mods/admins should be allowed to view private messages. If you call something a PRIVATE message & then it's not, where I come from we call that a lie.

quote:

Originally posted by _Joy_:
I don't think it's possible to see PMs. I help moderate on another forum. They use forumotion. I've never seen an option to view members' PMs. I suppose it could be different with TD Forums, but I kind of doubt it.

I disagree that mods/admins should be allowed to view private messages. If you call something a PRIVATE message & then it's not, where I come from we call that a lie.

Joy,
It wasn't the TD forums, it is another local forum. Not the BOS, and I'll leave it there.

quote:

Originally posted by Jugflier:

quote:

Originally posted by _Joy_:
I don't think it's possible to see PMs. I help moderate on another forum. They use forumotion. I've never seen an option to view members' PMs. I suppose it could be different with TD Forums, but I kind of doubt it.

I disagree that mods/admins should be allowed to view private messages. If you call something a PRIVATE message & then it's not, where I come from we call that a lie.

Joy,
It wasn't the TD forums, it is another local forum. Not the BOS, and I'll leave it there.

my dad always said "you go to hell for lying just as fast as stealing!"
no forum format supports viewing of ANY USER'S private messages! and i'll leave it there.

Hahahaha, thank goodness!! That should save the courts from many namby pamby lawsuits!!

quote:

Originally posted by willie:

quote:

Originally posted by Jugflier:

quote:

Originally posted by _Joy_:
I don't think it's possible to see PMs. I help moderate on another forum. They use forumotion. I've never seen an option to view members' PMs. I suppose it could be different with TD Forums, but I kind of doubt it.

I disagree that mods/admins should be allowed to view private messages. If you call something a PRIVATE message & then it's not, where I come from we call that a lie.

Joy,
It wasn't the TD forums, it is another local forum. Not the BOS, and I'll leave it there.

my dad always said "you go to hell for lying just as fast as stealing!"
no forum format supports viewing of ANY USER'S private messages! and i'll leave it there.

We have testimony on here that it is possible.
Why are you so defensive?

all "spin-off" forums are on the same format! so, if being defensive means KNOWING beyond a shadow of a doubt that it can't be done..... i'll leave it at that! and i'm not a moderator on ANY forum anywhere! (at this time!)

(the simplest way to prove to you and your friend is this: go start your own forum. just the two of you. you can both be moderators and just test the software! it's free! problem solved... questions answered!)

quote:

all "spin-off" forums are on the same format! so, if being defensive means KNOWING beyond a shadow of a doubt that it can't be done..... i'll leave it at that! and i'm not a moderator on ANY forum anywhere! (at this time!)

I know people who are moderators on some forums. They have their own set of controls that a non-moderator will never see. Sometimes, there are low level mods and higher level mods, those have more control.

If you are not a mod, how would you know what a moderators capability would be?

I think willie had an excellent idea... go start your own forum. You will be the admin and can see for yourself that you cannot read PMs. I did one for my family since we are so scatted. It was a great way to keep up with birthdays, special events, new pictures and the like. Of course the forum is private, just for family, but PMs cannot be read by admin.