How do I send private messages to other forum members?

You can communicate with other forum members publicly by posting in the forums. You can also have private conversations with other forum members via the direct message (DM) feature. You can have private conversations with a single forum member or with a group of forum members.

Direct messages (sometimes called PMs, for Private Messages) are like forum posts, stored within the forum system, but visible only to those in the private conversation. Each private conversation starts with a title, like a forum thread, followed by any number of exchanged messages.

You cannot use the DM feature until you have participated in the forums with at least three meaningful posts, and you may need to wait another day after reaching that threshold for the feature to kick in. Note that it's against forum rules to make useless posts in order to pad your post count, such as to enable the DM feature.

Sending a direct message

There are a number of ways to create a direct message:

1. From another user's profile page: Click Send direct message. The user's name will be in the Recipients list.
2. From a forum post: Click the user's name or avatar, then click Send direct message. The user's name will be in the Recipients list.
3. From a forum page: Click the direct message (envelope) icon in the menu bar, then click Send direct message. The Recipients list will be blank initially.
4. From the Direct messages page: Click Send direct message. The Recipients list will be blank initially.

In each case, you will be on the Send direct message page. Fill in the recipient's user name, if it's not already there, optionally add other user names to the private conversation, fill in the Title (subject) and message body, then click Send direct message.

Direct messages have formatting tools, like forum posts, including the ability to add attachments. You can also click Preview to review your direct message before sending it, a good way to avoid mistakes or formatting problems.

Recipients and replies

If you don't see the Send direct message button when trying to send a direct message, it means that the recipient doesn't accept direct messages from other users, or that they don't accept direct messages from users who they don't follow.

The recipient may accept direct messages but not have email or push notifications enabled, so they may not be aware of your message until/unless they visit their Direct messages page. If you don't receive a reply to your direct message, this could be the reason. See the Direct message options section below.

Any party in the private conversation may send replies at any time. Any participant viewing the conversation can exit from the conversation by clicking Leave.

The Direct messages page

To view all of your direct messages, go to the Direct messages page, or click the direct message (envelope) icon in the menu bar and then click Show all.

From this page you can start a new private conversation, view any of your previous private conversations, or edit the list to leave, mark as read, mark as unread, mark with a star, or mark without a star any conversation.

Direct message privacy

As in the forums, participants are known only by their User Name. Direct messages do not reveal any personal information beyond user names. However, private conversations are private only if all participates keep it that way. Other users in a conversation may share something you sent them. If you send an offensive message or otherwise inappropriate or unwelcome direct message, a recipient can report it as a rules violations, the only situation in which the moderators will read your message (unless you're in a conversation with a moderator).

When you initiate a private conversation, you can choose to allow a recipient to add others to the private conversation (see Direct message options below). If so, your direct messages may be seen by other users who you did not intend to include.

Bottom line: Don't share private information in direct messages unless you know that it will be kept private by the other party(ies) to the private conversation.

Direct message options

When you're composing a direct message, there are two option checkboxes available, both unchecked by default.

Check Allow anyone in the direct message to invite others if you don't mind having additional users added to the conversation by someone you're conversing with.

Check Lock direct message (no responses will be allowed) if you want to send a message to which the recipient(s) can't reply. Avoid this in most cases since it can be considered impolite.

After you start a conversation, you can click Edit to change these options or the conversation's title, after-the-fact.

Direct message settings

In the Allow users to section of your Privacy page, you can control who can send direct messages to you: either all forum members, only the forum members you follow, or nobody. Logged out users cannot send or receive direct messages.

In your Preferences page, you can enable or disable two types of notifications that will be sent to you if someone sends you a direct message:

• Receive email when a new direct message is received (in the Email options section)
• Receive push notification when a new direct message is received (in the Push notifications section)