Could there be a private messaging system or something like a chat? I would much rather have a conversation with someone through a private messaging system than on a profile where anyone can see? Is there any way to make this happen?
Private messaging was once a part of the old beta site, so I assume they'll bring it back at some point. I think they should also introduce user-blocking (also was in the old beta site) alongside this so that if you were to get spammed / etc. through private messages then you could block communications with that person.
In the top 5 most suggested features ever, this one would be about number 3, just behind the chat and the edit button.
What I always wonder is, what kind of things would you want to say to someone that you're afraid to say in front of the rest of the community? A feature like this could also be more work for moderators, since instead of having one giant comment wall for every user, you'd essentially have one for every user between every other user. Ideally, moderators would be able to see all private message exchanges, but they would have to go through a few more steps to view the reported offense than just go to someone's page. It doesn't sound so horrible when put in those terms, but keep in mind how many people are going to believe that the private messaging system is completely private and think that they can say anything they want within the confines of that messenger.
But if they considered it for the beta site, they could be working on it right now as we speak and we just don't know about it.
If you truly want privacy, you can always use offsite messaging systems. There's no reason for this site to go through all of the trouble of creating an entirely new feature from scratch that doesn't really effect or benefit the site directly when other sites are built for the sole purpose of sending messages to another person.
As for "something like a chat", if this feature were ever to be added, it would be just as public as the messenger, just like most other game site chat boxes are.
I can see this being useful, if only for some forum games. Also, i don't see how it could be that hard for mods to moderate the PMs, as it could be something like in MH, where PMs are a different color.
i don't see how it could be that hard for mods to moderate the PMs
They'd be private by nature, albeit probably accessible to super-admins. Certainly not (usually) to mods. And they would fall off the radar, unless such a super-admin were actively looking for something, presumably already flagged through other means.
I think it'd be a welcome feature,* but it is wide open to abuse, and if anything would rely heavily on members faithfully reporting (flagging) iffy PM's, and of course that being acted upon.
Given the often pretty (to very) young nature of the age group here, I do have some serious misgivings whether it would be such a brilliant idea. You wouldn't want them to invisibly be met with all sorts of iffy proposals through your site, from spam to (much) worse.
* Naming names in on-site reports to the staff does get awkward, and sure enough just the other day someone reported back on my profile when they just happened to drift up in such a report of mine.** Don't need that.
Anyways, my misgivings mentioned just now I think weigh far heavier.
** And as a second misgiving now, I'm surprised sometimes about all that gets yapped about through members' profiles. Having that out in the open may be far preferred over them coming up with lord knows what by PM. Entire fantastical parallel AG mini-universes, and whatnot Sub-clans etc. Surely it can't hurt to keep that public and so open to intervention where necessary.
