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[kris9128]

I do feel that drastic measures would only be taken if necessary - and it appears that in this case it was. I read it that only "certain" peoples PM's were being monitored so most should have nothing to be concerned about, surely?
I am a firm believer that when someone provides a service/resource, as the Admins do this forum, they hold the right to run it as they see fit and I do not believe that we are in a position to dispute that, whether the decisions appear to be well though out or not.

I have never run a forum but can imagine that it takes some doing, and for that alone I think the Admins deserve a large medal  

Am I barking up the wrong tree?  :-/

You may be one of the "certain people" yourself Platty.So may any forum member. :-/

I don't think the Admins have enough time to be looking at loads of PM's do you? they were talking about the people that were involved in the trouble. As not nice PM's were sent as well as on the open forum.
I certainly am not getting into an arguement about anything but an old saying comes to mind. "If people don't like it they know where the door is" that really is top and tail of it in my view.  

yeah. i did recieve one thanking me personaly for getting gen chat shut down.  

[albitz]

Couple of thing's for you to think about.

TB did'nt have to tell us that any PM service may be monitored.

As well as PM's there is the option of MSN, Skype or YIM.



Now consider this.  If you were Admin and things got out of hand in public, do you.

A. Montitor PM's and say nothing.

B. Mention PM Monitoring and hope that people take heed.

C. Turn off the PM system completly.

D.  Shut the chat room for a week and let everyone work out what they used to do when they had some spare time.

F.  Shut the chat room permantly and make it a boring Q&A site

G. Shut the forum and stop all the hassle and free up your own free time.

After the recent antics on the forum,option G must be very tempting.
I am always banging on about freedom of expression and the right to live free from big brother type interference etc; but all freedoms in any society/community must carry responsibilities with them,and if the level of responsibility drops below certain standards then it is inevitable that the level of freedom will at some point do the same.
I do think the admin team do have the right if they feel it necessary to monitor all activity of "combatants",this is not an arena where we have certain rights per se,the admins are free to  make whatever rules they wish,and if we dont like it we can leave.
I think we have been accustomed to the light touch approach and have been somewhat shocked by its sudden curtailment,but that was perhaps the point.The freedoms we have enjoyed on here are very refreshing in this control freak society in which we live,but if we insist on behaving like young children in a playground then we cant really complain about being treated in the same way.
I hope that we have collectively learnt a lesson,otherwise I fear the forum could have to change from what we all know and enjoy.
Next time someone is tempted to start a riot on the forum I hope they can stop and think what it must be like for the people who put the time and effort in for free to run the show,who then have to put even more time and effort in to stopping petty arguments ruining the whole thing for everyone.
Finally I hope that someday I will learn how to convey what I want to say in far fewer words.

[Dusty]

The PM facility is an adjunct of the forum. The forum is "owned" and run by the admins. By extrapolation, they also own the PM system and thus have every right to view the boxes. Common sense would dictate that such actions would only take place if something was being said which would bring the forum into disrepute (for example, if someone was sending obscene or abusive messages to other members).  The main purpose of the PM facility is to enable members to exchange information which would otherwise clog up the boards. If you want to send intimate and private details to another member, you should use email.

So Nickbat. An analogy
Lets say that a wealthy victorian gentleman owns a large house with plenty of servants.
He has ,by your way of thinking ,every right to go into one of the servants rooms,at any time he likes ,be it day or night.
He then has every right to read the servants letters and go through her private things .He also presumably has the right to insist that her door must be unlocked 24 hours a day.
Oh purlease ,we do not live in the 19th century anymore. People have certain rights to privacy these days. :-/ :-/

[Kevin Wood]

Hasn't this been done to death yet?

The admin team have had the decency to make us aware of the fact that, under the current circumstances, they reserve the right to look into PMs.

Some (most) of us don't appear to mind.

Some of us do.

Those who do, aren't forced to use PMs, or the Forum at all, for that matter.

Kevin

[Del Boy]

What did I miss last night  :-?

[STMO123]

What did I miss last night  :-?

Man U and Arsenal both won.

[sidewaysmv6]

is this still goin on??? :-?

[hotel21]

The PM facility is an adjunct of the forum. The forum is "owned" and run by the admins. By extrapolation, they also own the PM system and thus have every right to view the boxes. Common sense would dictate that such actions would only take place if something was being said which would bring the forum into disrepute (for example, if someone was sending obscene or abusive messages to other members).  The main purpose of the PM facility is to enable members to exchange information which would otherwise clog up the boards. If you want to send intimate and private details to another member, you should use email.

So Nickbat. An analogy
Lets say that a wealthy victorian gentleman owns a large house with plenty of servants.
He has ,by your way of thinking ,every right to go into one of the servants rooms,at any time he likes ,be it day or night.
He then has every right to read the servants letters and go through her private things .He also presumably has the right to insist that her door must be unlocked 24 hours a day.
Oh purlease ,we do not live in the 19th century anymore. People have certain rights to privacy these days. :-/ :-/

One very brief observation on your explanation, Dusty...

Your analogy is very much alive and well in 2009.  In a large number of commercial and non commercial businesses, management have the right to do exactly as you describe, including (and not limited to) body searches, bag searches, locker searches without locker owners being present etc etc....

E-mails being monitored, as is web access and, in a lot of instances, restricted or simply blocked.

As some others have comented, OOF is in the care and control of the Admin team and, to a limited extent, its members.  If the members cannot police their forum then the admin team must.

To keep that policing to a minimum is the ideal but, sometimes, the Victorian/Real Life methods can, and must, prevail.

Said all I'm going to on this, thanks for the support where it appears.....  

[albitz]

Maybe it should have the name changed from ""private message" to something like "contact a member",just to clear up any confusion
Surely we can understand that in extreme circunstances the admins reserve the right to look at all communications within the forum.
In very extreme circumstances(bullying/harassment etc) they could leave themselves open to charges of culpability or similar if they didnt have this option in reserve.

[Taxi_Driver]

Or H....make sure that all PM boxes are private and confidential  Skruntie.
So that forum members can feel free to write what they wish without being concerned who else is reading it.It's called privacy.

PM does NOT mean "Private" or "Confidential" ... there are no such concepts on the internet, and that is something a lot of folks don't realise. Everything you do, every keypress and mouse click, has an effect somewhere that is recorded or logged, along with a great deal more information than you realise.

If you want a "private" conversation ... DO NOT have it on the internet, and that includes SKYPE.

Back on topic, A forum owner could be taken to court if bullying or worse was taking place in PM's and they did nothing about it, and "electronic bullying" is becoming a problem in the real world.

The Admins/owners must have the right to read everything that is put on "their" site, be it public or not. If you/we/I don't like the way they do this we have one simple option.

And I'm not leaving ....  

I agree with Entwood's points.....nothing is private using electronic means, even encrypted emails can be unencrypted.
Phone text messages are stored (not sure for how long, 3months?) and therefore can be read by another.
I administer a small web site, that is hosted by a hosting company, with the site, comes mailboxes, we have 10 mailboxes, that other people use, if I choose to, I can access those mailboxes (being an admin of the site), so too could the hosting company, however I have no inclination to and I doubt the hosting company has either.
So in a nutshell, never say anything that you send in an electronic format, that you dont want a 3rd party to read  

I dont know what last night was about, missed it  
Dont really want to know, but well done the admins for sorting it out  

[cem_devecioglu]

computer systems always have admins that have full right to access anything because the nature of systems..Either its a banking system, or mail system or chat or other ..

Only security you can have is; you can send encrypted messages ..But thats another story..

And I as an IT worker , personally, never include something very special (to my life) in my PMs  (which I dont want anybody to read)  to anyone considering this fact..

and to add further I know-hear about some special systems designed to monitor all  internet communication by some organizations..

[amigov6]

I missed all the firewoks. Typical. ido'nt know who said or did what.
   I can be a naughty poodle at times so this must've been a good'un? :-/

[jjleonard]

As has been pointed out here, PM stands for 'Personal Message', not 'Private Message'.

This system runs purely based on goodwill of the admins, and they have not, at any point, granted rights of privacy to any of the users. The analogy pointed out above that employers have the right at any time, without notice, to view the contents of employees email is a good one as that is replicated here. I don't view my PMs as private, merely not shared with the rest of the forum.

Another little point - I didn't see the threads last night, but surely it's our job, as responsible forum users, to apply a degree of self control? Is it not the case that some contribute to the fire by fanning the flames?

Just my two cents, as a dedicated and loyal OOF user. I respect and support the admins' decisions as the continuation of this site is dependant on their hard work, for which they go unrewarded.

[miggy]

Did something happen last night, i'd forgotten all about it.

That's because I got you drunk first

Whatever I was drinking last night gave me a sore bum this morning

said the vicar to the bishop

[Welung666]

Did something happen last night, i'd forgotten all about it.

That's because I got you drunk first

Whatever I was drinking last night gave me a sore bum this morning

said the vicar to the bishop

How many vicars do you know that wear pink?