Doggone Private Message notifications

[Ian Mackenzie]

Agreed on the former.

That is one of the key reasons I dropped the whole Moderator thing. Some of it must have taken a week to write because it took a week to read and digest! I jsut don't have the time fr that crap. It was an easy decision.


On for latter, these days there are only a handful of members I talk to openly and that is via private email. The preferred means is voice communications. I don't care about the expense, its not always what you say its how you say it and people do that badly on the forums and in emails. PMs are way too risky, information gets shared and facts get distorted and people loose trust very very quickly. I've been burnt way too many times.

People are weird, you stop talking to them because you want to do something else with your life and to them they then think your an ass, they suspect your a villian or working aginst them and blame you for all the silly crap their tiny tiny little minds create. Americans are freedom fighters but they also think your in their pocket for keeps. I mean Hello. That's not a swipe at 260+ million people but I am not the first to make that observation. End of Rant.(But my favourite TV show is 24, Jack is a good guy.)

Unfortunately from this week I have had to put an indefinite ban on all outbound messages from this site without exception. I really don't care if your the President of GE and this includes blocking emails from known time wasters, nosey parkers and what I would call agendeners. This has come out of necessity and is not meant to be a unfriendly flag wave. I just don't have time to wade through and answer 50 emails and dumb notifications from even seriously dumber posts every day. My father requires medical treatment and my priorities have changed.

Every time I post I also have to log in twice and then it duplicates. That is a real drag.

Ian

I pulled most of my contact info and closed PMs for similar reasons and one other. The thing that irked me the most was the use of PMs as a way to privately assault me, then invoke the right to privacy as a trick to avoid disclosure of bad behavior.

In a recently closed thread, Heather and Seawolf wrote



In most cases, they're correct, but it ignores the abuse of the PM as a form of protected intimidation. Since most everyone would think you'd be a rat (or a liar) to show someone's true colors by revealing an insidious PM, better to not allow PMs at all. Then there's no worries.

Now, unless you're a moderator (which I can't stop) or invited by me and I temporarily put you on my list, PMs are blocked.

Problem solved.

[Rolf]

Every time I post I also have to log in twice and then it duplicates. That is a real drag.

Ian

THAT is what I been talking about in the thread "Logged off the forum".

Sorry to hear about your troubles Ian. Hopefully things will change to the better.

[4313B]

On for latter, these days there are only a handful of members I talk to openly and that is via private email. The preferred means is voice communications. I don't care about the expense, its not always what you say its how you say it and people do that badly on the forums and in emails. PMs are way too risky, information gets shared and facts get distorted and people loose trust very very quickly. I've been burnt way too many times.

I've come to the conclusion that PM's are best suited to conducting business one on one and email is best suited for sharing files. I think we've all been sufficiently burned with PM's and emails used for other activities and often the information proves incorrect. Phone conversations really are the preferred medium for long distance correspondence. I have always tried to view this forum strictly as a way to dispense information. I don't view a forum as a way to get to know someone or "bond" with them. In fact, it's a real good way to end up saying to oneself "Eeeew! I don't think I really want to know this person at all!" I really don't think some of these people read their posts, and if they do and think they are alright then I suppose they should take a few writing classes. But not the dramatic fiction writing classes please! Unless you are really good at it.

People are weird, you stop talking to them because you want to do something else with your life and to them they then think your an ass, they suspect your a villian or working aginst them and blame you for all the silly crap their tiny tiny little minds create. Americans are freedom fighters but they also think your in their pocket for keeps. I mean Hello. That's not a swipe at 260+ million people but I am not the first to make that observation. End of Rant.(But my favourite TV show is 24, Jack is a good guy.)

I get your drift. There are a ton of really needy people in this country and many of them are looking for long term commitments, you know, BFF's. I witnessed it first hand for years on The Sierra Network and America Online. One couldn't sit down to play a MUD or MMORPG without constantly getting hit on. Case in point the HUGE fascination with online dating services. At last glance starting an online dating service was a surefire way to make a mint.

Thanks Ian and take care.

[boputnam]

... My father requires medical treatment and my priorities have changed.

Sorry to hear about your troubles Ian. Hopefully things will change to the better.

[BMWCCA]

I'm truly sorry to hear so many of the stalwarts of this site are having so many problems. I sincerely hope mechanical and personality issues don't compel those with so much to share to turn off completely. Since I found this site not that long ago, it has renewed my enthusiasm for a hobby I've been dabbling in for forty-five years, reinvigorated my interest in a brand, sound and philosophy I swore allegiance to back then, turned me on to new music, taught me how to repair what I've got, helped me spend money I shouldn't and otherwise wouldn't have, and in general proved to me I'm not sick (or at least there are others who have it worse than do I) just because I have four pairs of JBLs and six Crown amps.

I hope you all get things sorted out, that you know there are those of us who appreciate your sharing your expertise and time, and that folks will respect your privacy. Regardless of how it works out for you, thanks and all the best to you.

As for the monitors and web masters: Thanks for a great site. I've got no beefs about how anything operates and no problems of which I am aware.