This is a debate which is coming up every now and then on some sites including Discourse.
Is it right for admins to be able to access user PMs? To read them? It could be argued that it's a useful tool to hunt down illegal activity, harassment and known troublemakers from reports, but at the same time, it is an egregious violation of the fundamental right to privacy.
The people able to do so also varies depending on the software, in classical times, only the owner could really do it and only by poring through entries in the database manually.
But now, there are plugins which allow any admin to do so from their control panel and even some software like Discourse which allow it out of the box (it doesn't support admin permission either, any admin is a full admin).
There is also the matter of transparency. Does a user know that you're going to be spying on them? Even if they agree to a blanket agreement in a privacy policy, do they know about every incidence where you have accessed their personal artefacts?
I personally think that fishing trips should be discouraged, that strong audit paths are put in place so that every access is traced, that it is made as painful and difficult as possible to help prevent the previously mentioned fishing trips and to restrict it to an absolutely trusted group who even if the sky falls or ocean boils will never pore through people's messages out of pure curiosity.
I don't believe in reading members PM's, and I don't have access even if I wanted to. This reminds me of when the FBI wanted the master key to unlock iPhone(s), it may help with a particular case or situation, however, it's going to impact the rest of its law/rule abiding users in a negative way. We all expect our private conversations to be exactly that, private.
Anytime I've had a disruptive member sending PM's I simply deleted every PM sent from that account, then ban them. I also have my forum settings configured in a way that doesn't allow PM'ing until a post-count of 25 has been reached, this will deter most from even bothering. Those who still march forward with their spam are given little to no time before myself or another staff member notice their pathetic attempt at spamming our members.
That's a disgusting invasion of privacy. I wouldn't read it just for the sake of reading it. I would comply with authorities if they wanted to see them though.
I'm using ProBoards. I'm speaking for myself. Also, "I don't believe in reading members PM's". I'm speaking specifically of my own community, and you're telling me I'm misinformed before even checking what software I'm working with. I've administered my community since 05, I think I have a handle on what I can and can't do.
As long as you have it in words under Privacy Policy act of your site then you should be good. Members and or traffic has the right to now and as an owner or runs an site you have no choice but to have it typed down. It comes bad when you are doing something on your site that involves members and that they aren't aware or if not breaking allot of laws. Shame that even that it's your own site you have to obey the laws and it all come down the new new law added last year thanks to the EU.
I remember that one time an staff member did gave me an warning point back 7 or if not 8 years ago for advertising an GTA based replaying community. I send an message to two people who I had contact before who I played with and it was the only way to get hold of them. Turns out that staff members of that site have the power to read all private messages and also can do allot by removing the messages or even reply to them.
There are good about why they use it and have that option then again it's also bad.
I have been with forums since the early years of 2000 and I didn't know that the admin has the capability to read the PMs of members. I guess that is scary because there is no more privacy. All the while I thought that the private message is private and that is just between you and the memeber addressee. Now this makes me think twice even if I am not doing anything illegal or immoral. I just lost my peace of mind with this issue knowing that there is a way that the admin can read my PMs.
I personally just assume my PMs anywhere are not private and will not send anything via them that I do not wish to chance becoming public knowledge. E-mail comes in handy when you want to have a discussion between yourself and someone else that you can be certain will be private which I have done on a number of occasions.
Generally speaking, as a user, you should always assume that the admin is capable of reading your messages, unless you're using some sort of end to end encryption. There is the reasonable assumption that they won't be flipping through it all casually, but that is just that, an assumption.
I like how you're spreading awareness about this @Azareal, so thank you for posting this thread, it's a great discussion to have. It's clear an abundance of forum go'ers are unaware of their privacy and I believe it's crucial we all understand our rights and that information we share may be intercepted or exposed in one way or another, legally or not. I encourage everyone to read into the forms of encryption and also how and when it works. Basically, you could consider everything you do on the internet exposed to someone, somewhere. 😕
ZetaBoards had this as a feature (I forget if it was standard or premium, since I never had to pay for premium features) and the only time it was ever useful was for when I wanted to see if a new member that looked suspicious had sent any PM's. However all that did was let me see if something bad had been PM'd before someone else would see they received any such thing and let me know about it, so it wasn't helping me do anything but find a problem faster than normal.
The only time I'd find it outright wrong for anyone to read the PM's of other users is if there was no warning to the users that their PM's are being logged. You still shouldn't go prying in them just because you can, but if the members sending them are aware they can be read then it at least lets them know to be wary about what they send.
I believe site owners and Admins should have the right to access PMs but should only do so in emergency situations. I don't want to know my members' gossip 🙄 Even if it's about ME!
Unless they taken about something that's not very nice regards the admin and even so doesn't been you need to read it and ban them for saying what there thoughts are
PMs for the longest time haven't really stood for "private message" but rather "personal message". The main difference being that they aren't really private. Anyone who has database access can read them. Even forum softwares that don't innately have capability to display PMs in the Admin Control Panel can still be viewed through the database.
Furthermore even hosted forums like proboards someone can log in and see the PMs... even if it's not the admin of that site there's still someone higher up that has that capability.
Some forums also say right in the terms or on the personal message page that anything sent can possibly be seen by the admin. (I know there's a warning for it on Jcink in the PM window...)
So it's better to expect that PMs can be read. So don't use them to share things you wouldn't be comfortable with an admin seeing. Don't share really personal details or things like that.
Does this mean admins should go reading every message that goes through their forums? No. But if some issue comes up and they need to figure out what's going on then it may happen. Maybe a message gets read unintentionally. (Like looking for that one with the evidence needed but either clicked on the wrong one or had to open a few to find the message in question.)
As for whether or not I've used the ability to read member PMs... Yes, I have. A member joined up and started putting up ads (which are against our rules). I checked to see if they sent any PMs and they had. So I read them, figuring they were yet more ads, and sure enough they were PM advertising. So they got banned. You do not PM advertise on my site.
Unless they taken about something that's not very nice regards the admin and even so doesn't been you need to read it and ban them for saying what there thoughts are
