If we have PM options would you activate or block it?

[Dancing Fire]

 

[Bancsy]

Activate

 

[LinSF]

Activate immediately!

 

[OoohShiny]

Will I get spam from that Dancing Fire chap if I do?

 

[Matthews1127]

I’d use it.

 

[MissGotRocks]

I would most definitely use it!

 

[Missy]

I'm neutral on PMs. I speak with who I want to offline anyway so it wouldn't serve much of a function for me I think. We are all easily reachable (IG, FB, Loupetroop etc) so if one really wants to get in contact with someone else here they can. And you could always email the mods and ask if you could get someone's contact info if the other person agrees.

If we had PMs here I wouldn't block it but I am not sure it would make a big difference.

 

[Missy]

Will I get spam from that Dancing Fire chap if I do?

Most definitely.

 

[Karl_K]

tough one, probably activate but might end up blocking.

 

[Karl_K]

I love helping people that is the reason I keep coming back for almost 16 years.
But when we had pm about once a week someone would ask me a complex question that was going to take 20min to an hour to put together an answer.
I would ask them to post the question on the board because others would be interested in the answer or its something I get asked a lot.
Many people would say no problem but some would start swearing at me and saying that I didn't want to help them.
Once a guy even called me a racist because I would not help him because I asked him to ask it on the board!?!?!?!?
How was I supposed to know his race?!?!?! and even if I did it would have no bearing on helping him.
On the other hand I made some good friends on PM here and since it was banned its harder to get to know people.
So pm was a double edged sword.

 

[lyra]

I'm used to PM's, so of course I'd be fine with it.

 

[pearlsngems]

It would be a good option.

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

I would block it. I get so many robo calls, and just decided to join a neighbor-hood group on line that a nice neighbor recommended and I have been barraged by e-mail from all sorts of companies. I quickly removed myself from the group.
I like to select my friends in person. There are some people here that I like very much, but my own personal situation leaves me with limited abilities to meet-up. I can usually say what I want the way it is set -up now. This works for me.

Annette

 

[elizat]

I prefer no PM's personally.

I used to be on a forum where if something happened to another member, like a sick pet and you said that you send well wishes, etc., You'd usually get asked for money to send to so and so. I don't like that.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Will I get spam from that Dancing Fire chap if I do?

Nahh, no one wanna talk to me. . I never had any problem with PMs on other forums. IMO, I think we should have the option of receiving PMs or not.

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

We have a vendor on PS who began contacting PS members asking them why they didn't recommend him to others. How he got their e-mail may have been because they enquired for info from him or perhaps bought something where they left their e-mail. But, as I recall some PSers were annoyed. He doesn't, to my knowledge do that anymore. But, I suspect he would be the first to contact PSers.

Annette

 

[redwood66]

I might use it very sparingly as there might be things I would want to discuss with certain members outside of public view.

 

[marcy]

I wouldn't mind - it's like my phone I would ignore anyone I didn't want to talk to

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

Wouldn't use it.

cheers--Sharon

 

[Madam Bijoux]

I would use it.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

I would absolutely use it!

 

[LLJsmom]

Prob use it. But I think it is better without it. More egalitarian. Maybe less cliques. More open discussion. Less gossip.

 

[Rubybrick]

Prob use it. But I think it is better without it. More egalitarian. Maybe less cliques. More open discussion. Less gossip.

This

 

[Missy]

Prob use it. But I think it is better without it. More egalitarian. Maybe less cliques. More open discussion. Less gossip.

I agree with @LLJsmom.
And as @Karl_K points out it allows for issues to be discussed in the forum that might benefit everyone.

 

[arkieb1]

I dunno, there are lots of PSers we all like and are happy to talk to but it also leaves everyone open to scammers, con artists, people that want to come here make up fake stories and try and extort money etc from people and we have seen all of those things over the years without it, so I'd guess it would be worse with it. Not to mention spam and messages from people you might not want to communicate with.

 

[Dee*Jay]

I think it would dilute the quality (for lack of a better work) of the conversation on the board because a lot of discussions would then happen privately and people wouldn't have the benefit of learning from the posts. I'm thinking of diamond and jewelry type stuff with this comment, not personal stuff, although there's certainly a lot to be learned on that front too!

 

[Arcadian]

I would block it. Though not because I don't like y'all!!!

On a board like this, it would be abused by folks who are up to no good. We already have to do lots of things to hide our identities (as much as possible) because some have some rather amazingly large collections.....

So I see it as more of a hindrance for the admin team.

 

[redwood66]

Abuse would surely occur and that would be too bad so not having it is understandable.

 

[PreRaphaelite]

I’d activate it.

 

[telephone89]

I'm surprised to see so many people worried about scammers or fraud TBH. I'm on (and have been on) many forums with private messaging allowed, and fraud is pretty low on the list of concerns. If someone messages you asking for money for their sick pet you just...dont send any? Or report the message? I dunno that seems like a non-issue for me.

I'd activate it.