Private Messaging on Dave's Garden?

I have seen private messaging on other forums so that you can send people messages through the site, and I thought it would be nice to have something like that on DG.

I think we have all had the dilemma of some non-subscriber sending an e-mail about a trade, and not knowing whether to answer it or not for fear of giving away your e-mail address. It seems like a private messaging system would fix these kinds of problems. Just a thought...

I was under the impression that unless you actually posted your email address in your post, that non-subscribers couldn't email you. I didn't know this.

Karrie, when you get an email that went thru Dave's to get to you under the message sent to you is a message from daves. I copied this from one of my emails so you know what Im talking about.

This E-mail was sent to you via the Dave's Garden website. To protect your
privacy, the sender has never been given your E-mail address. Your E-mail
address is kept secret from all visitors. The only way they can reach you
is through this method.



If you wish to reveal yourself to this sender, then feel free to respond.
If you do not wish to reveal yourself to this sender, then ignore this E-mail
and they will never know who you are.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sender's username on Dave's Garden is "------".
-------- is a subscriber of Dave's Garden


Before I subscribed I emailed one or two people just by clicking on thier name, the only way I got thier email address was if they responded.



This message was edited Apr 29, 2004 11:39 PM

I realize that. but whether it is coming from a subscriber or a member is a difference. I thought only subscribers could send emails, via. daves.

That was a matter of discussion back when DG first went to a subscription basis. It was decided that, since trade lists are available to non-subscribers, it would be difficult to them to participate in trades if they could not e-mail other members.

This message was edited Apr 30, 2004 3:03 AM

ok - I guess it's our job to look them up then. that's fine with me.

Bump.

How about an answer to a e-mail question column. An answer to this persons request, yes, no or the like. Monterey says no! I have no seeds. That way we could answer without giving our address. I have felt for certain reasons that I don't want people to have my address, but I don't want to be rude to them . Kind of a to whom it may concern type thing.

hmmmmm..... if someone solicits your email, even when you aren't offering seeds - I just would take that Dave option, and not respond. If it is someone you have been talking with over the forums, and feel adequated to talk to them privately, then that is your decision. Personally, I wouldn't want anyone being able to get my email unless they are a subscriber - I know the subscribers, who pay to be here, are very nice people and have never thought of any of them as a threat (yet...... lol). I know JCF got an email once from a young girl asking for seeds - we'd discussed this on the chat once. Her parent's didn't want the girl to garden, because they didn't want her hands to get dirty. I told Janet to stay out of that. If her parents found out a grown up was corresponding with her, via. email, they might get a little upset, as they didn't know who Janet was, or if Janet was even a woman, or a man, or an inmate, or ANYTHING! I prefer to keep email to subscribers. I find it much safer, easier going, and the subscribers to this place are the nicest people I have ever met. I don't like weeds.

Hmmmm... I wonder if I have an additional clue. I got an email from Terry about 3 months ago, stating she was sending me an email from a non-subscriber specifically for me, and leaving it up to me to respond or not.

I've had that, too, Darius - someone wrote to DG via the "contact us" link below regarding one of my photos, I think. Terry e-mailed me a copy and left it up to me.

hmmmm - I think everytime anyone from Daves, whether a subscriber or a member, has contacted me via email for the first time, it gave me the option of responding to it or not.

It does, you're right.

To clarify...

Anytime any of us receives a message through the DG website, it will have the disclaimer about the recipient's option to not reply, and the sender will never learn anything else about you.

The DG helpdesk receives a dozen or more questions/comments each day, and the PDB helpdesk receives dozens of error reports and miscellany, too.

When I find a question/comment at either helpdesk that pertains to a particular member, I typically do two things:

1) forward their message and email address to the user who was mentioned in the message, and give them the option of replying directly to the person, or passing a message back through me. I do this so that the member has the option of responding to the inquiry or comment without revealing their email address.

2) As a DG/PDB representative, I reply to the initial message, and let the sender know their information was passed on, and they may or may not receive a followup from us or the member.

For some inquiries ("I want the seeds offered by member so-and-so") I invite the sender to sign up for a free username and email the member directly. Which gets us back to the first scenario - one member emailing another, and the recipient's choice of whether or not to reply ;o)

If giving out your main e-mail address is bothersome to you, then set one up at Hotmail or Yahoo just for Dave's Garden or your gardening endeavors.

If you're going to do any garden trading at all though, it's virtually impossible to keep your snail mail address a secret.

i think that private messaging is a good idea
though, i can understand why some people wouldnt like it
so i think that if we did implicate a messenger type thing here at dave's, it should be optional for people to use it.. like a little box to tick off in your member preferences that says "yes, i would like to be able to send and receive private messages on dave's garden" and if the box is not checked, that person would not be able to send or receive private messages
or.. we could just start a thread in general discussion, and everyone who wants to talk via private messages can put their AIM or yahoo! or msn name.. or their icq # or whatever messenger is decided upon (i have them all.. lol)
and people can also create a new name just for chatting with Dave's people, if you dont want to give out your normal name (the aim name i have that i would give out would be "DGmisskitty")
with the new aim, it's very easy to use multiple screen names at the same time
anyway, that's my 2 cents for now :)

Doesn't instant messaging take up alot of bandwitdth (or something like that) plus constant maintenance? I just added one of the members to my msn messaging - that way Dave doesn't have to deal with it on here.

that's why i also suggested that maybe we could just do our own instant messaging (via aim or yahoo.. msn.. whatever.. i prefer to use aim) without involving Dave.. and having him program up an instant messenger for us

:)

I don't have any messenger service from AIM or Yahoo and don't wish to get involved in one, but if there was one on DG I'd use it with some of the members I've met here. I'm not suggesting that Dave should create one, rather saying I would use it if it were available. (how's that for riding the fence!) :-) Brenda

I'm all for it! I think its a great idea. I have AOL IM but it slows down my computer so I hardly use it. If we had IM here...I wouldn't have that problem. :-)

I'm for it, only if there is an 'opt out'. I'm not usually able to sit and chat. It may look like I'm at the computer for hours, but actually I'm back and forth, to and fro, at a moments notice. This is why I seldom join the chat sessions.

Cheri'

well - then Dave can up our fee from $15.00 a year to $35.00 a year - think of that......

Dave can do what ever he feels is right about the fees . . . is there a problem?

Cheri'

Considering the problems there were with unmoderated chat, I doubt if DG would have IM on-site. There were some major problems with chat, which is why it is now only offered two times a week.

Actually, a private messaging system at DG has been on the TODO for a very long time. My thought is that it would work like the forums, where each person basically has their own private forum, and anyone can post to it. Only you can read your own threads (that you are attached to).

It's a complicated piece of code to plan out and execute, but is definitely high on my TODO of big projects. Look for it sometime in 2004, hopefully.

dave

Cool, Dave. I hope there is a way to opt out of it (turn it on and off) but whatever you program will be nice. =)

Cheri'

There won't be an optional enabling or disabling. It will be active for all members. It will work in lieu of email.

dave

Oh! Never thought of it like that, like a forum. I was thinking IM like live chat. Cool!

Cool!

So.....kinda like our own private Inbox on DG!! Really cool, Dave!! You think of the most innovative stuff.

That sounds very complicated, and very very cool.

So we can have conversations in real time like in chat, or let it run like a thread in a forum over time. Nice. Very nice. I look forward to this new feature.

Cheri'

I participate in a few online forums where they have this kind of thing, and it's nice. You can correspond privately with other members solely through the PM function and see alerts when you login to the site; some let you receive e-mail notification of new PM's, with a link to your "inbox" at the site.

Edited because it doesn't work like that! OOPSIE.

This message was edited May 19, 2004 1:15 AM

I think you've got it!

Doh! You're right...So simple, and there all the time (the idea, not you, Brenda).

LOL GW You are right. I am not all here all the time ;~P

Whoa! I didn't think that one through ! If you email someone through the system here it gives them your email address so they can choose to ignore you or answer you directly. So scratch option 3!

This message was edited May 19, 2004 1:15 AM

LOL - I didn't think of that, either! ROTF!

I participate in another online forum that has Private Topics. You post to a member and only that member sees and can answer the post. There is a link called Private Topics that shows your messages. No addresses are ever exchanged unless you wish to give yours. Handy.

I have been a member to another forum for numerous years. The format of the "vault" is seamless. When I came to Dave's for the first time, I found it to be confusing and hard to manuever around. I think there is alot of possiblilty for improvement here at Dave's.