Private Messages

[Will]

In the past week I've received two unsolicited private messages that disturbed me. The first was from an escort who was soliciting business because he confused me with a reviewer of the same name who says he's a blond, blue-eyed, twenty-something surfer who's living off his inheritance. Now I don't blame the escort for going after that kind of client; but I do think the escort should have had the courtesy to reply when I told him that I thought he had the wrong person. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I've assumed that the in-house private message feature is there for friendly exchanges between people who encounter each other on this board. The dead silence from the soliciting escort seems not only unfriendly but even bad business, particularly as I told him that I'd look him up the next time I visit his city. Well, now I won't.

 

The other message came yesterday, and it is a long diatribe against someone on this board whom I consider a friend. It was therefore doubly unwelcome, as well as being slanderous.

 

I know that there is no way to avoid this kind of e-mail message any more than it's possible to avoid other kinds of unpleasant detritus that comes through electronically. But is there a "block" function for the Private Message feature? I don't want to hear from these guys again.

 

Of course, I'm unlikely to hear from the escort who dines only at the top of the food chain. But I certainly don't want to receive anymore gratuitous nastiness about my friend.

[+ deej]

The only thing you can really do about private messages is turn off your inbox. (See the User menu, above.)

 

That said, if someone is abusing their privileges here on the message center feel free to report them. We can disable posting privileges faster than they can send spam. :-)

[BigD]

I too received this disturbingly sad message.

There must be some real hatred for one to so

viciously attack. It is very sad.

Peace.

[trilingual]

I, too, received the "hit piece" message. If there's a flaw in the site that allows someone to spam such messages to all registered users, that needs to be fixed. The same "hit piece" showed up both in my M4M private mailbox and as an e-mail, so the same problem exists in both functions.

[+ deej]

Copy once, paste many.

 

It's pretty easy to go to the profiles page (from the link above) and send private messages/e-mails to anyone who has that feature enabled.

 

We don't moderate what gets sent through the private message function or via e-mail. It can't be done, and we don't want to anyway.

 

If he's being a pest, tell HIM.

 

(And keep reporting the ID's he's using. Hoo nukes 'em as they're reported.)

[Guest Brazil Nut]

>If there's a flaw

>in the site that allows someone to spam such messages to all

>registered users, that needs to be fixed. The same "hit

>piece" showed up both in my M4M private mailbox and as an

>e-mail, so the same problem exists in both functions.

 

No it didn't go to all registered users. I didn't get it in either place. (Not that I wanted to...) So the sender must be doing it by hand (err... ;-) ).

[Guest Brazil Nut]

>The only thing you can really do about private messages is

>turn off your inbox. (See the User menu, above.)

>

>That said, if someone is abusing their privileges here on

>the message center feel free to report them. We can disable

>posting privileges faster than they can send spam. :-)

 

I'd say the second alternative (disable abusers) is much better.

The private mail function is very useful and I have both sent and received messages that my correspondents and I didn't want to make public. If you turn off your inbox because of an abuser, nobody else can send you private mail either. Don't let the abusers win by forcing you to take that kind of measure. Private mail, like posts, is identified with a name, so just report any abuse. And it may be unpleasant to get some things but just treat it like any other spam - delete it without reading.

[Guest Bitchboy]

>>

>The private mail function is very useful and I have both

>sent and received messages that my correspondents and I

>didn't want to make public.

 

I totally agree. I like to save the really dirty private messages I get to savor when the bf is away on business. Alas, this latest one about you know who doesn't qualify - not nearly dirty enough.:-(