Not so 'Private Messages'

[Dago]

 Some of my 'Private messages' have been viewed more times than others and NOT by me! One has in fact been viewed 14 times, so who is it that is actually viewing my 'Private Messages'?  Be careful because I think that 'Private Messages' are not quite as 'Private' as they would have you believe!

[Clair]

Let's say it one more time:

The only people able to view Private Messages are the person sending the message and the person receiving it.

Forum Moderating Team

[Dago]

This must mean that there is something wrong with the forum software because I know that both myself and the original sender have not viewed this 'Private Message' 14 times between us. I will leave this topic now as I am already under a first & final warning, enough said I think.[:(]

[Clair]

I can only repeat my previous comment that only the sender and the recipient can access a Private Message.

Forum Moderating Team

[Cat]

I can second that. 

For those with concerns over the number of times a PM seems to have been read, this thread might help to explain how it works http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/881490/ShowPost.aspx , or, in brief ...

I can assure you that the only people who can view a PM are the sender and recipient.  When you create a PM, by default it appears (you view it) on screen after you hit the send button (1 view),

the recipient reads it (2 views) ...

...and replies (3 views, as it will be displayed on their screen after it is sent).

You then read their reply (4 views), and so on

So if someone sends a PM, and the recipient replies, there will actually be a minimum of 4 views, rather than 2. 

Also, as the PM system doesn't do the "preview on mouse rollover" thing, it's not possible to see the first few lines of a PM by hovering over the title, so anyone that sends or receives a lot of PMs might have to re-open a PM to read it again if there is not enough information in the title.

 

If anyone has specific concerns about this, please contact a mod or Admin by email or PM.

[cooperlola]

Clair, how does the private message counter work, exactly?  It seems to go up every time either party looks at a message, is that right?  ie, if the sender opens it four times, and the receiver does the same, the counter will read 8, is that correct?

Sorry Cat, you answered the question while I was typing this.  Thanks.

[Quillan]

[quote user="Dago"]This must mean that there is something wrong with the forum software because I know that both myself and the original sender have not viewed this 'Private Message' 14 times between us. I will leave this topic now as I am already under a first & final warning, enough said I think.[:(]
[/quote]

Your not the only one to appear to have this problem as I have had the same but what the other moderators have said is correct. All PM's are encrypted, OK it's not a sophisticated 128 bit encryption but it's good enough especially as it's behind a firewall. The other problem is the way the forum software has been installed namely across several servers and sometimes strange things happen and not just with PM's. All I can say if you are really that worried use email but I can assure you, regardless of what some would have you believe elsewhere, nobody other than the writer of the PM and the recipient can see the contents. As I said if your not happy use email.

[Will]

I thought there was an incident a while back where a forum user was said to have had unauthorised access to the private messages (and other admin areas of the forum). I thought too that particular loophole was supposed to have been closed? So could it be possible that there may be users of other Archant forums who can see them? Our 'private' messages certainly seem to be viewed more times than the sender and recipient have seen them, and I don't think this concern can just be dismissed by saying that the forum software does funny things (I can truthfully say that I have noticed this too and do not trust the PM system).

[Quillan]

Any past problems were resolved but if you don't trust the system the answer is simple, don't use it. Another issue is we have been told that some PM's have been copied to other forums by the recipient so then the contents become public after which anyone can copy and forward them to wherever they want.

Other than that I know that the system is secure but its up to you if you use it or not.

[Russethouse]

[quote user="Will"]I thought there was an incident a while back where a forum user was said to have had unauthorised access to the private messages (and other admin areas of the forum). I thought too that particular loophole was supposed to have been closed? So could it be possible that there may be users of other Archant forums who can see them? Our 'private' messages certainly seem to be viewed more times than the sender and recipient have seen them, and I don't think this concern can just be dismissed by saying that the forum software does funny things (I can truthfully say that I have noticed this too and do not trust the PM system).[/quote]

I think there is some confusion:

A forum user did have unauthorized access to messages that were private, in so far as they were posts in the mods section and that person was not a mod. Those messages were not PMs and that loophole no longer exists

If PMs are about the running of the forum then the relevant sections or a précis are posted into the mods section,  they are  PMs either to or from specific mods and we do that to ensure continuity just as any other organisation would. 

As a non techy I suspect the PM system counts clicks, open =1 click, close =1 click,  open again to have a look 3 clicks....Ok I said I was non techy ! [:D]