I know I can access these with a query in SQL, But is there a hack to access these from the admin panel inside the forum?
I have searched here, and a few other places, but cannot find what I need. Most hacks do not seem secure enough.
thanks
M
Sorry, but this has nothing to do with TinyPortal, and I personally believe it's an invasion of privacy to read other peoples private messages.
Hm, you know, I think the subject was brought up on SMF's forum some time back - someone had a MOD, but something happened along the way and it's no longer available.
I believe in privacy don't get me wrong...
But, on a different note: how do you deal with a member sending personal invitations to his own forum (to other members) via the PM system?
Ban them.. if you're members are trusted, somebody should be reporting the PM. You can enable reporting of PMs and if you suspect a member trying to poach other members for his/her own site, then make a topic about it. Bring attention to it.
Unless there is abuse, I would never consider reading my members PMs and they know that because I made it clear.
You can read another Topic being discussed at The Admin Zone which I have been following.
http://www.theadminzone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37683
I've considered the ban, but what gets me is that this is a long time member and contributes to the website on a regular basis.
Yeah Z,
that should be a no No to all Admin's
this is B.S madron
Delete Topic ?
I think it can be discussed.. PMs are part of SMF though.
And I know SMF do not endorse the reading of other members Private Messages.
Good way to lose members!
If you membership discovers (and they will) that you are snooping around in their personal messages many of them will simply stop coming around.
I know that I would do that and most of the comments that I've seen on this subject make me think that lots of other folks would do the same.
They are called PM's for a reason ya know!
But that's just MHO... take it for what it worth. ;)
oh yes..you can lose members alright. Now, most of us here know its not that hard to read PM's through the db..but back in 2003 when I started up a parenting forum with my wife(still running great, up to 10-14k perday, 650k posts :) ) we had a quick growth in members and traffic, climbing to 20-25k hits per day. All very nice, but then trolls started appearing and we had an episode where we had to check out the PM between two members. Well, the members figured out that we knew something we shouldn't :P and we were forced to admit looking at PM's. As this was someone pretending to be someone else, with fake baby pics, phone numbers, adress and all, we judged it to be fairly serious enough to go in and check.
The end of it was that we exposed the member that many had trusted upon(even sent money too :P ), but we lost a third of the members in a week just because we were too honest and said " yes, we looked". It turned out that saying that any admin can easily look in db didn't matter at all, not to mention the seriousness of the fraud...they still were shocked by it :P
I think it would not be a problem if you mention this kind of possibility on the registration agreement, you could say every single PM is subject to the rule or that it will be used only in case of possible fraud, theft, and other security reasons, as well as to prove possible terms of use infringements.
Doing that without an agreement upon that is just too bad though.
wow! I asked this question, for something similiar to what bloc posted. Now there is or was a bill up by Senator McCain, that if passed is going to force forums to disclose the names of convicted sex offenders, I don't have a link but it is easily looked up. there are many debates going on about this, but its not the reason I asked my question.
Now I value my members privacy, I also let it be known in my TOS that I can and WILL read a pm or email if sent by my board, if its necessary, and that I will cooperate with law enforcement if it comes to this. Well its come to this, I had to turn over my records, but not without a fight, I lost the fight BTW. I have the ability and the right to monitor what goes on in my forums as the owner and Admin of a Private forum. I don't want these creeps on my boards, would you. I could of stopped this had I a little more knowledge at the time. Its a little scarey to be honest.
Good discussion, and Crip, that was quite harsh dear, harsh indeed.
Quote from: madron on June 11, 2007, 10:10:01 PM
wow! I asked this question, for something similiar to what bloc posted. Now there is or was a bill up by Senator McCain, that if passed is going to force forums to disclose the names of convicted sex offenders, I don't have a link but it is easily looked up. there are many debates going on about this, but its not the reason I asked my question.
Now I value my members privacy, I also let it be known in my TOS that I can and WILL read a pm or email if sent by my board, if its necessary, and that I will cooperate with law enforcement if it comes to this. Well its come to this, I had to turn over my records, but not without a fight, I lost the fight BTW. I have the ability and the right to monitor what goes on in my forums as the owner and Admin of a Private forum. I don't want these creeps on my boards, would you. I could of stopped this had I a little more knowledge at the time. Its a little scarey to be honest.
Good discussion, and Crip, that was quite harsh dear, harsh indeed.
Which is why I added this to my post.
Quote from: Zetan on June 11, 2007, 05:21:30 PM
Unless there is abuse, I would never consider reading my members PMs and they know that because I made it clear.
There may be circumstances where the need to delve into private messages outweigh moral obligations, thats the reason I left the thread open.
1) for debate.
2) to give you a chance to reply.
Quote from: Zetan on June 11, 2007, 10:15:49 PM
Quote from: madron on June 11, 2007, 10:10:01 PM
wow! I asked this question, for something similiar to what bloc posted. Now there is or was a bill up by Senator McCain, that if passed is going to force forums to disclose the names of convicted sex offenders, I don't have a link but it is easily looked up. there are many debates going on about this, but its not the reason I asked my question.
Now I value my members privacy, I also let it be known in my TOS that I can and WILL read a pm or email if sent by my board, if its necessary, and that I will cooperate with law enforcement if it comes to this. Well its come to this, I had to turn over my records, but not without a fight, I lost the fight BTW. I have the ability and the right to monitor what goes on in my forums as the owner and Admin of a Private forum. I don't want these creeps on my boards, would you. I could of stopped this had I a little more knowledge at the time. Its a little scarey to be honest.
Good discussion, and Crip, that was quite harsh dear, harsh indeed.
Which is why I added this to my post.
Quote from: Zetan on June 11, 2007, 05:21:30 PM
Unless there is abuse, I would never consider reading my members PMs and they know that because I made it clear.
There may be circumstances where the need to delve into private messages outweigh moral obligations, thats the reason I left the thread open.
1) for debate.
2) to give you a chance to reply.
I have been following the discussion at TAZ to :)
I find the topic distasteful that as froum owners we even have to consider doing such a thing.
But after what I have just been through, the ability to easily access the documents, is what I was looking for. I hope I never have to do this again!
Thanks for the debate, and for all of your opinions.
Quote from: madron on June 11, 2007, 10:10:01 PM
Good discussion, and Crip, that was quite harsh dear, harsh indeed.
yeah i rekon i'm a harsh man by nature, but there always seems to be one around ..
http://docs.simplemachines.org/index.php?topic=451
:)
I agree, you shouldn't be reading PM's unless it is warranted on such occasions such as Blocs. These types of things can destroy a forum.
Yeah, I am for NOT having the tools up and ready, because it smears the borders between "necessary" and "not necessary" to actually go in and read PM's.
I agree with you Bloc, the possibility is there, but not readily acessible, meaning there is some layer of protection against casual invasion of privacy. ;)
Also I agree with you too Bloc. It aint right reading other people PMs on your forum. If a person know about it they wont come back or something. But I do agree with Bloc and some of the other members too.