Community Feedback - Posting private messages (1 Viewer)

Posting private messages on the forum. Should this be allowed?

  • YES

    Votes: 137 54.6%
  • NO

    Votes: 114 45.4%

  • Total voters
    251
Status
Not open for further replies.
POLL results right now say 77 YES to 66 NO. That shows me people want to be allowed the freedom to post messages. It is sure nice to see that the majority of people are not scared of what they have to say. I am not an attorney, and this is not legal advice, but pretty sure if u send it, it no longer belongs to you anyways.

That reminds me of something I often hear people say: You can save your teeth by closing your mouth.
 
I voted yes, but have no intention of sharing anything stated privately. I don't want potential ToS violations to censure unfortunately needed airing of grievances.
 
I voted NO. I probably would say yes if asked when I joined.

I did this once and it only created more of rift and only hurt myself in the process. Live and learn.

That said, if a transaction ever went south or someone was calling my integrity or character into question, no doubt, I'd want to use their words to exonerate myself.

However, now that I've been on the site for a while and interacted with so many people with so many varied morals and ideals, I don't think it's a very good look to just post a private conversation.

Having done it already, and suffered the negative results, it looked poorly on me, and I'd not do it again unless absolutely pushed and there was no other recourse.
 
Interstingly, thus far almost every post I've read where someone explains why they voted "No", they then go on to explain the special circumstances in which it should be allowed lol. Sooo... in other words, you guys meant to vote "Yes"?

Of course it's generally in poor taste, and of course private matters generally ought to remain private. But if you believe there are any circumstances in which it ought to be acceptable to post a screenshot of a PM, then you should have answered "Yes" in the poll.
 
Interstingly, thus far almost every post I've read where someone explains why they voted "No", they then go on to explain the special circumstances in which it should be allowed lol. Sooo... in other words, you guys meant to vote "Yes"?

Of course it's generally in poor taste, and of course private matters generally ought to remain private. But if you believe there are any circumstances in which it ought to be acceptable to post a screenshot of a PM, then you should have answered "Yes" in the poll.
There is a clear consensus for both "yes" and "no" votes. It would be allowed in certain specific cases that have been widely discussed.
So YES, only in this case
And NO, except in this case.
We are saying the same thing, the rest is just semantics.
 
POLL results right now say 77 YES to 66 NO. That shows me people want to be allowed the freedom to post messages. It is sure nice to see that the majority of people are not scared of what they have to say. I am not an attorney, and this is not legal advice, but pretty sure if u send it, it no longer belongs to you anyways.

That reminds me of something I often hear people say: You can save your teeth by closing your mouth.
Apart from a joke between friends or a case of dispute/scam where there is definitely a need to "clear" a situation etc., what would be the point of/purpose posting a private message without the parties' consent?
This is not about fear in any way. Not for 99% of us at least.

If someone is having fun with double talk in private, in order to cause harm or to take advantage of a situation, and it is really proven, then obviously the person concerned has every right to restore the truth and his integrity by posting PMs.
 
Apart from a joke between friends or a case of dispute/scam where there is definitely a need to "clear" a situation etc., what would be the point of/purpose posting a private message without the parties' consent?
This is not about fear in any way. Not for 99% of us at least.

If someone is having fun with double talk in private, in order to cause harm or to take advantage of a situation, and it is really proven, then obviously the person concerned has every right to restore the truth and his integrity by posting PMs.
I’m not sure what the reasons would be to post PMs. I’ve never stated I would post any such message, number, or
any panty bunching party host addresses but I also don’t need a “gray area” maybe rule to help me get thru any dilemmas that may arise in that arena. I’m a big boy, and today I put my big boy pants on. Leave the “you can ONLY post these types of DMs but not these types” of rules out of our collective adult world.
 
Lol at people thinking messaging online is "private" in any way. I know they are referred to as private messages (although this forum refers to them as conversations), but that's just a label really. Hell, you guys do know that google reads all your emails, right?

I voted yes for obvious reasons. There is always a chance that a PM will need to be shared for whatever reason (scam, lying, accusations, etc.) and the only way to defend oneself would be to share the conversation. To create a rule that completely blocks this option to everyone seems a little draconian personally. I think one needs to really think hard before sharing a PM on the forum, but there are obvious reasons as to why it shouldn't be completely banned.
 
Personally, I find it astounding that so many voted against free speech. WTF are you people sharing in PMs that you ar
Addresses, phone numbers, contact info, classified negotiations.

I do think thereay be I stances where it's good, particularly if fraud is I volved, but I think a situation should reach that standard, otherwise the assumption should be pms remain private.
 
It's a private message. Just don't be a douche and post it publicly. It's not about having something to hide, it's just discourteous. In all my years I haven't come close to even considering posting one.

But this place is filled with douchebags and it's all about money now anyway, so yeah you may as well go ahead and start posting all of your petty pm arguments for all to see.

Just more fun times at poker chip noob vendor forum
 
It's a private message. Just don't be a douche and post it publicly. It's not about having something to hide, it's just discourteous. In all my years I haven't come close to even considering posting one.

But this place is filled with douchebags and it's all about money now anyway, so yeah you may as well go ahead and start posting all of your petty pm arguments for all to see.

Just more fun times at poker chip noob vendor forum

Didn't you sell most of your non custom chips?
 
Didn't you sell most of your non custom chips?
tenor-22.gif
 
My opinion is if you need to clear your name from a sale gone wrong or some other issue then you should be able to share PMs. If someone shares them for vindictive or spiteful purposes then they just end up revealing their true self and members on here will just distance themselves from people like that.

I wouldn’t share PMs unless I had to provide evidence to protect my own name from being dragged.
 
Addresses, phone numbers, contact info, classified negotiations.

I do think thereay be I stances where it's good, particularly if fraud is I volved, but I think a situation should reach that standard, otherwise the assumption should be pms remain private.
As I've mentioned before, I know a lot of personal info. We all do. That's how meet-ups work.

I simply trust that nobody is going to rebroadcast it. This rule wouldn't prevent that anyway. If I published a list of every phone number and address I knew, that wouldn't necessarily be from a PM, it could be from a address I wrote on an envelope, a house I visited, whatever. It's not a screenshot of a PM, so it would still be "legal" by the proposed rule.

TOS should just say "Don't be an asshole"
 
No, this should not be allowed. In general I believe people should manage their own issues without involving PCF moderators or the entirety of the forum; however, I also feel it is important to discuss this topic impartially. The most relevant analogy to this situation is recording a telephone call. US Federal law permits the recording of a call if one of the parties consents to the recording, and such a recording is fully admissible in an actual trial. That said, providing a recording of such a private conversation to a person that was not legally present (e.g., able to overhear the conversation above the noise in the room), such as the entirety of the PCF forum, is likely an illegal act and opens a completely different can of worms. All of PCF should be governed by the Terms of Service, and the general expectation to not behave like a four year old should fully apply even in PMs. PMs have a report function for just such ToS abuse. Other than that, your PMs should come with some expectation of privacy, as PCF isn't a formal trial and bringing in a third party to a private recording is likely a no-no. The rules governing use of such a recording vary by country and even by state (in the US). The simplest solution that is least likely to cause issues is to not allow the posting of PMs on PCF.
As far as I am concerned, Forrest has nailed this one. The analogy is perfect.

There simply is a different way of communicating to an individual than to a large group. If we go down this road of encouraging the sharing of DMs, then DMs may as well not exist. I am sure that will make a certain lynch mob on PCF happy.

Also we have an anti-thread crapping policy in the classifieds. So if you want to negotiate with a buyer, DM is your only choice, and honestly, I can see where both askers and sellers would want such negotiation kept private.

I think there are cases where it may be relevant, but people never realize how important privacy is until they don't have it. It's protection against being misunderstood, is protection from broadcasting things, that you don't want broadcast. And yes @Poker Zombie there is a difference between me sharing my address with about 100 people I want to have it versus a website with thousands of daily users I do not know.

But bottom line, you have to be aware a broad communication requires different thought than a private one, and once private communications are distributed for broad consumption it changes the meaning. There may be incidents where it's prudent, but they should be the exception, not a blanket rule that all DMs are always sharable.
 
If we go down this road of encouraging the sharing of DMs
We are already down this road.

We are talking about a new policy. Granted, I have never posted a "Conversation", nor have I felt the need to. However one could say that posting someone elses private information is already prohibited in the current Terms Of Service.

Users shall not post any messages that harass...

So I don't see why people are concerned. Like so many other things, if someone tells me something that they want to keep private (health condition, for example) I know better than to blab about it. I don't need a TOS to tell me to be a decent human being.
 
I voted Yes.

I think sharing ostensibly private messages (whether called "PMs" or "Conversations" or otherwise) is generally speaking a bad idea, in poor taste, and an affront to the person whose expectations of confidentiality are being breached. Nevertheless, I think there are situations in which sharing such messages is perfectly fine. Allow the users to make their own decisions about when it's good or bad, and allow social opprobrium to act as the sole punishment if and when necessary.

It seems a lot of people have voted "No, but well of course there's exceptions". That seems to actually be a "Yes". "No with exceptions" is a terrible official policy; Tommy and the admins have much better things to do than to decide whether some particular leaked private message fits into one of the exceptions.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom