Suggestion Regarding messages

[sakuraTheBabyfur]

I recently got a message from someone, and while going to reply, discovered that I could not because I was not established contributor. While I see why this is useful, I have a suggestion regarding this. Continue to block sending messages for anyone below EC, but allow people to reply to messages sent to them. Since I'm pretty sure that disabling messaging for anyone below EC was to prevent people sending spam or virus links to people, or sending unwanted messages, I think that allowing people to reply will be beneficial as well, since they are restricted to talking to people that send them messages first

 

[Cottontail]

This is a common source of frustration, not just for new members, but for long-time members who feel inclined to reach out to newbies. The 'visitor messages' feature on the profiles is one answer, but not all private messages are the sort of things you want the world to see, obviously. I do think it would be great if new users could at least reply to the PMs they receive. If this is a vBulletin feature that can simply be switched on, I'd be all for it. On the other hand, if it's something Moo would have to code, it's probably down the priority list a bit.

And welcome!

 

[Moo]

I recently got a message from someone, and while going to reply, discovered that I could not because I was not established contributor. While I see why this is useful, I have a suggestion regarding this. Continue to block sending messages for anyone below EC, but allow people to reply to messages sent to them. Since I'm pretty sure that disabling messaging for anyone below EC was to prevent people sending spam or virus links to people, or sending unwanted messages, I think that allowing people to reply will be beneficial as well, since they are restricted to talking to people that send them messages first

This is a common source of frustration, not just for new members, but for long-time members who feel inclined to reach out to newbies. The 'visitor messages' feature on the profiles is one answer, but not all private messages are the sort of things you want the world to see, obviously. I do think it would be great if new users could at least reply to the PMs they receive. If this is a vBulletin feature that can simply be switched on, I'd be all for it. On the other hand, if it's something Moo would have to code, it's probably down the priority list a bit.

And welcome!

So:
- We don't allow people to reply until they reach EC, because we want to push people to make those posts and get to EC. Yes, it is annoying, but it drives usage and posting, so we've kept it that way.
- We're going to move to a new forum platform within ~6 months, and when we do all custom-coded features (including this one) are going to get revisited. I'm going to have to make a decision as to whether they're all sufficiently useful that they're worth re-coding from scratch. In most cases, the answer will be no.