e-mail help: I think this site needs to feature the ability for confirmed members to send private e-mails to one another. - Help.com

Sounds like a reasonable request. we will invite everybody we know also. How are you, The Fronde?

Thepp, and how is the world treating you?

I think that you have a great idea Fronde. I have also thought about that. Sometimes it would be easier to have private discussions instead of in posts or shoutboxes where everyone can see what you’re talking about. Hopefully they will include that function soon.

I think this is a great idea. Another way could be an internal help.com email system? Like on youtube and bebo

Yep it would be much easier. But if they don’t add a feature for us to do private messages then we can still do it the old fashioned way right Thepp?

That would make sense. I think it would be useful for a lot of members. Good suggestion.

I don’t know about a private messaging system…this really isn’t meant to be a socializing site. That’s why people should seek out methods of instant messaging.

they will not allow it because then they would not be able to monitor and censor everyone

Fronde…Get AIM, leave a shout with your AIM SN to the user with which you wish to converse privately with, and carry on from there.

anonymous gave the answer. possibly the site would assume some sort of liability? or…

this is’t facebook or myspace, adding such a feature change this site for the worse, if people wish to converse privately they should do so by other means

Private Messaging would work out if the site had more moderation controls with more moderators. It is a liability, especially for such an easily accessible site that seeks to encompass anyone who surfs to it. It’s currently too public for a PM system.

When you have a closer-knit community, such as people linked up via a common interest, such as a video game or specialized mutual interest, Private Messaging makes more sense.

Since this site is open to everyone of all tastes, means, and directions, a PM system can open up a new route for harm to occur to people without the proper moderation.

We definitely need more mods here… Thepp I responded to your shout

people will have private arguements, there will have to be a whole new set of rules, it would not be good. Such systems also attract trolls, and who wants that?

Ok, so real quick, there are two ideas floating in this thread:

1) Private Messages No. Period. Unless my boss absolutely forces me to do this at thread of losing my job, Help will not have private messages. The “veil” of privacy in “private” messages is completely false and leads people to saying things they normally wouldn’t (revealing, personal, ignorant, racist, etc.) and they become a REAL pain to deal with. Additionally, as we plan on letting users take more and more control over the site, private messages would still need to be moderated.

All in all, for Help, private messages are completely wrong.

2) Email This User The idea here is that we provide you a form by which you may contact another member through email. We would forward along your email address to the user you are contacting and they could decide if they wished to reply or not. I’m not terribly opposed to this idea since it’s been well noted that the email filter is junk (most filters are) and it’s not really unsafe to implement. I’ll have to discuss this with the other Admins, but I don’t see it being a “problem” conceptually.

Ok, I lied, that wasn’t “real quick”…

I think it is a good idea.

I think its a good idea but here’s another suggestion to rectify the problem. Each user be given a private email, not a real email but user to user within the site. that way people can exchange private messages between one another without them being open for everyone to see. (I think using the shoutboxes like email is really ******). Within user email there should be no censorship whatsoever, but there should be a way to report abuse if someone sends a message that is threatening or abusive. basically like the email system set up for utubers.

That way if we want to give our phone number or email to another user we can send it in a private message to that user.

oops didn’t read chuy’s message. I fail to see how private messages are not truly private, or why they need to be moderated. Just give users the ability to block other users or turn private messages off if they choose.

Cant you just set up the thing, and not be able to read it or anything? so then the only people that can see it are the sender and the recipient?

No, because no matter how “private” you may think it is, your messages would live in OUR database and your conduct would be on OUR website. This makes us partially responsible because it happened here, under our noses.

For example, we could get in a lot of trouble if a user was PM’ing every other user with porn or racist remarks, etc. So even though it was labeled “private” we’d still have to be looking it over to watch out for these kinds of things.

When things are conducted over email, its not on our system and far more private.

(Yes, it is possible for that spammer to use the “email user” form to commit the same crime, but we can install safe guards against spammy behavior.)

I am with you Fronde. I like the idea.

I’m for it.

God Bless.

I like the idea of private emails. There are times when we send a shout to one of our friends but we really don’t want everyone else to see what we say. I don’t think it would change help.com at all. We would still be here to help whomever needed it. It’s just that some of us have made friends with others on the site that go beyond the posts we put here. If we want to be able to contact our friend or have them contact us, we do have to put our email address in a post where other people can see. Then we get emails from people who we don’t want emails from. Hope help.com takes the time to put some thought into the whole private email. I really think it’s cool. Thanks Fronde for putting the thought out there. :)

Fronde, a troll is “someone who intentionally posts derogatory or otherwise inflammatory messages about sensitive topics in an established online community to bait users into responding.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet…

i agree! shoutboxes can be good though i think we are more than free to talk about sensitive thoughts on email.

Sorry that I haven’t been on here for so long. Been kept busy for a while. I think the idea of privately sharing email is a great idea. It’s easy to see the many benefits that having private email sharing would bring.

I don’t like the presumption that people will send a lot more racist and harmful messages if they have private messages. It is real stupid that our “inboxes” aka shoutboxes are there for everyone to see. That’s what threads are for. I don’t mind if my private messages get moderated so long as that’s in the user agreement. It would be a lot more privacy than shoutboxes. Just how would this site be liable if someone used it to send these messages? Could I sue the phone company for getting offensive crank calls?
I’m sure the site might be held liable but it still seems really dumb to me. How do so many other websites manage to have private messages if its such a dangerous phenomena? Couldn’t a change to the privacy policy be added, or a change in the user agreement waiving some responsibility for the comments of others if moderators are not able to respond in time?

I would’ve thought you could just make the database unaccessible, but oh well you know best.

I like the idea of emailing another user or some thing. I have made some very good friends on here who I’d like to stay in contact with! I would like to know what happens to them after I have helped them and be there for them if they need me any more!
It is a bit of a pain in the butt to put your addy on the web as then you’ve opened yourself to all kinds of peeps!
I can understand abt the internal email thing Chuy! just a pity the world has to be such. It would be huge job to solicit every single private email!

I also agree. I always liked the idea btw.

Hey everyone,

In principle I think this is a great idea…

A

Well, the only thing I can think of that MIGHT work is to make the shoutboxes private. That way, we can send messages to other users privately, and the moderators can still keep track of the conversations going on between users. That way, if you needed to, you could still report a shout if someone got out of hand.

I just woke up, I really hope that made sense…

Whoops, I didn’t realize Jesse was still logged in…oh well, I guess that works. I agree with WhiskeyMac, lol!

Thanks Sid…now Heather & I aren’t the only ones with personality issues:-)

I think it would be cool if you could choose “private” or “open” before you send a shout. That way you could still report things.

But I still don’t understand what the email fuss is about…all you need to do is write “at” instead of “@” and you can write out your email adress.

Yes adrianna but you may not want the whole viewing group to email you is what
they are trying to say.

I like the email option….. thought about this the first time I came to this site….

I’m not opposed to the email option as long as I can disable it. I believe every user has the right to protect their inbox from unwanted messages.

Ideally, I’d be able to enable it selectively on a user-by-user basis. Unlike the Friends List, however, I don’t think the “Email List” (or any statistics related to it) should be made public. If someone wanted the ability to send me an email, they could ask in a shout. Such an exchange might go something like this:

Limon: “Fronde, I’d like to send you an email, but right now you have that feature disabled. Can you add me to your email list?”

Fronde: “No Limon, I don’t use that feature. I get too many emails the way it is and I don’t need you spamming my inbox.”

Limon: “But I need to speak with you privately. It’s about the movie Second-Hand Lions.”

Fronde: “Why didn’t you say so? I’m going to add you to my email list immediately.”

So here’s what we are thinking:

1) Reveal My Email A user-by-user setting, off by default, which would allow any other verified member to click a mailto: link from your profile page.

2) Timed Reveal My Email Same as above, but it would automatically be turned off after N minutes (somewhere between 5-30).

3) Friends List Check Offs For everyone on your Friend list, add a check box that would allow that certain friend to see your email address.

4) Reveal To Poster When you write a reply to a post, check a box that will reveal your email address to the poster (and ONLY the poster of the thread). It’d be right next to “Reply Anonymously”.

So, a few notes:

- No direct email. We won’t put up a form that allows you to email a person from Help.com servers. We are comfortable allowing the exchange of email addresses via a simple mailto: link.

- No email without consent FIRST. This means that User A has to consciously choose to reveal their email address to User B. In that way, User B can not simply say “let me privately email User A.”

…

Personally, I like option #2 (because it’s the least work for me ;D) while other Help.com admins like #3 for the flexibility. #4 seems like a pretty good solution too, but might have some odd ways of working.

What do you think?

Chuyskywalker,
I like option 3 being as we already put the people on our friends list and therefore are comfortable talking to them. So giving them our email would be alright.

That’s kind of option 4a and 4b. 4a would be “anyone on my friends list can see my email” and 4b would be “let me pick and choose who, from my friends, can see my email.”

I like the ones you just said, (4a+4b) and to have them both available. I still like the internal email thing, but lol

4b sounds good to me!

We prefer option 3. If that equates into 4a and 4b then we prefer 4b.

Let’s see… (4a+4b)=4c -> (a + b)/4 = c/4 -> a + b = c -> a^2 + b^2 = c^2…therefore I think the answer is triangles.

3

ChuySkywalker
I think option 4b would be the best option

4B Please hold the sarcasm and double help of help please.

I vote for options 3 and 4. Option 3 for friends, and option 4 for people that you want to further help.

dam it man soo tru, they should add that feature as described above, maybe a bir of smilies? =] hell, event beter, they should add an anti-double poster thing.

PS: i agree, lets have #2 and #4

I actually like all the options. People can already reveal emails,s o it is just a question of giving them the options to do that the way they want and to who they want.

4b sounds great

I support email on site !

I like Option 3 - really wonderful idea!

i like this idea….watever anyone chooses i like any

Yes i think your right. It would be better…xo..

longest post ive seen in a while…

i don’t think it would be that bad. u can’t just go around posting your email for everyone to see. who knows who could get ti.

Sounds like option 4b it is.

I’ll add a column to the friends page which you can “check off” to allow the marked users to see your email address.

Don’t expect this for a little while as other very big changes are coming down the line.

at last, a way to talk to a specific user about cheesecakes, without everyone knowing the lemon one is you r favourite =)

yay for your ideas chuy!

Well, Everyone who wanted this feature may be in for a surprise ;)

Yay! I love surprises!

Yeah Limon,i think ur right…..

For those interested, this has been implemented: http://help.com/post/62490-let-users-…