Problem with Private Messages

[mbaldw]

Hi All,

Apologies if this is the wrong board on which to post this, but I have tried using the site's "Contact Us" link to no avail. When I first joined this site, I was able to send other users private messages. This was great because it allowed me to ask some other board members for permission to use their photos, without bothering the rest of the board by starting a thread. However, lately I am unable to access the inbox I had and I can no longer send private messages (I get a message saying that I don't have sufficient privileges). However, as I guess is pretty obvious, I can still log in to the site and post on the forum boards. Can anyone suggest what the problem might be and, even better, a resolution? I had several messages in my PM inbox that I would like to retrieve if at all possible. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Many thanks for your help.

Cheers,
Marc.

[Boddie]

I think it is to stop people logging on, not really contributing to this site, then spa**ing other members and just using the site for their own ends, i.e to use their contributions to promote their own site, for example, as has been the case a few times.

I might be wrong

[Beryl]

I'm not sure I understand all of this.
Why would you want to use other members photos?
I wouldn't want mine used for some thing else they are my copright and for this site only . Can you explain about private spa**ing please. I'm a bit confused
Beryl

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by mbaldw

Hi All,

Apologies if this is the wrong board on which to post this, but I have tried using the site's "Contact Us" link to no avail. When I first joined this site, I was able to send other users private messages. This was great because it allowed me to ask some other board members for permission to use their photos, without bothering the rest of the board by starting a thread. However, lately I am unable to access the inbox I had and I can no longer send private messages (I get a message saying that I don't have sufficient privileges). However, as I guess is pretty obvious, I can still log in to the site and post on the forum boards. Can anyone suggest what the problem might be and, even better, a resolution? I had several messages in my PM inbox that I would like to retrieve if at all possible. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Many thanks for your help.

Cheers,
Marc.

I think it's because you haven't used the site much lately. I may be wrong, I'll check for you.

[mbaldw]

Beryl Wrote: "I'm not sure I understand all of this. Why would you want to use other members photos? I wouldn't want mine used for some thing else they are my copright and for this site only . Can you explain about private spa**ing please. I'm a bit confused"

Certainly. Granted, I have a wildlife website and having looked at the gallery, I PM'd a couple of users asking for their permission to use a couple of their photos on my website. Those who I have asked have all been happy for me to use a photo, provided they are cited as the photographer.

Boddie added: "I think it is to stop people logging on, not really contributing to this site, then spa**ing other members and just using the site for their own ends, i.e to use their contributions to promote their own site, for example, as has been the case a few times."

I can understand that. However, I didn't join this forum to either promote my website *or* to scrounge photos. I joined the forum on recommendation from another memeber so that I could join in any discussions that interested me. At the moment time prevents me from contributing substantially, but I would hope I am not regarded as a spammer.

Does this clarify at all?
Cheers,
Marc.

[nightshade]

Marc perhaps most members would rather deal with querys in the public forums and restrict the personal messaging to people whose trust has been earned by regular postings and use of the site to develop a relationship, just to start PMing without an invitation could be construed as rudeness

[wildone]

Originally Posted by Beryl

I'm not sure I understand all of this.
Why would you want to use other members photos?
I wouldn't want mine used for some thing else they are my copright and for this site only . Can you explain about private spa**ing please. I'm a bit confused
Beryl

Beryl sometimes people join sites like this and then PM members either because they want to use the members photos for their own web site or they may PM members and advertise to them privately. None of this is wanted on WAB so PMs are not allowed until the new person has either been a member for a length of time or until they have made a number of posts. Don't worry about spa**ing. What I have written explains that word

Regards

glsammy and wildone

[mbaldw]

nightshade wrote: "Marc perhaps most members would rather deal with querys in the public forums and restrict the personal messaging to people whose trust has been earned by regular postings and use of the site to develop a relationship, just to start PMing without an invitation could be construed as rudeness"

Really? I have to say I never considered that people might construne a PM asking if I could use a photo that they'd uploaded to the gallery rude. Now you mention it, I think I can see your point. Nobody has ever hinted that they found the PM an annoyance. However, should that be the case I am truely sorry as it was certainly never my intention.

Cheers,
Marc.

[Boddie]

MBALDW

I was not implying this was the case with you.
However we have had a few people come on who never contributed. They were members for a couple of months and never really posted but used the PM facility to coax other members and to ask for permissions with a view to helping only their site, whilst not contributing to WAB itself.

With this in mind it seems fairly reasonable that privileges are 'earned' so as to stop people simply joining just to have the full benefits. I do not know if this is the case but would suggest it is a good practice.

It is also not good practice to use the word spa* on forums by the way

[Beryl]

Originally Posted by wildone

Beryl sometimes people join sites like this and then PM members either because they want to use the members photos for their own web site or they may PM members and advertise to them privately. None of this is wanted on WAB so PMs are not allowed until the new person has either been a member for a length of time or until they have made a number of posts. Don't worry about spa**ing. What I have written explains that word

Regards

glsammy and wildone

Thank you
That explains it. I understand PM too now.
Beryl

[mbaldw]

Hi,

First off, thanks to everyone who has taken the time to respond and point out the apparent error of my ways. I understand where everyone is coming from with regards to the spa**ing. However, I would like to clarify a couple of points.

1. This board was recommended to me and I joined because I enjoy wildlife.

2. A while later, I saw a few photos in the gallery that I thought were really good and wanted to include them on my site. Rather than just using the photo (which I class as theft, pure and simple), I messaged the person who uploaded it and asked if they would mind me using it provided I cited them as the photographer. These people, replied and said that it wasn't a problem. At this time, I was blissfully unaware that WAB had been having problems with "spa**ers". I simply thought that it was a waste of a thread to ask on the forums; clearly I was wrong in this assumption and I apologise.

3. Until just now I was unaware of this forum's rules of ettiquete regarding use of the word "sp**". Obviously, had I known I would have rephrased my posts.

4. To the best of my knowledge, I have complied with the rules of registering. I have included a description and link to the WAB from my site (which is a prerequsite to have a personal URL in your signature). Perhaps extention to the registration text would be beneficial to explain the rules regarding the use of PMs?

Suffice to say that I like this forum and I have learnt a lot from reading the posts and information provided by others on here. However, I feel that -- although I may be reading this wrong -- there is a strong view (not held by all, I appreciated) that I am a sp***er. I thank you for pointing this out to me, because it reminds me that I obviously need to re-think my activity on these discussion boards and think harder before taking certain actions, even if I believe I am doing them because I consider it polite.

I hope this unfortunate situation can be left in the past and I look forward to contributing to discussions as the opportunity arises.

Cheers,
Marc.

[StuartDH]

Hi Marc,

A couple of months ago the PM facility was changed to only be allowed after a member had 10 posts. Unfortunately, we got a lot of people jumping on the site, posting once to advertise their site, then sending out PMs, so we had to put in the limit. For the most part it seems to have worked pretty well, but apologies if it's caused you any inconvenience.

The good news is that after only one more post and you'll have it back again

Stu

[mbaldw]

No problem (and no inconvenience); I was just curious as to why the PM facility had been withdrawn. Many thanks for the clarification, Stu.

Cheers,
Marc.

[nightshade]

Hello marc I took a look at your site I had seen it before, I remembered the sharks and ray interest,now the dust has settled hope you settle in to what is under most circumstances a friendly site

[Pat]

I've known Marc for a long time now and as far as I'm concerned he's just interested in wildlife and is certainly not a spammer.

[mbaldw]

Thanks for the positive appraisal Pat I hope that -- time permitting -- I can be a more active member of the group in the coming months.

Cheers,
Marc.

[pxl8]

Erm... could I get some clarification on a couple of points here?

1) Since when did using the word spam become so offensive that it needs censorship? I can understand wanting to prevent the act of spamming, but not the use of the word ?!?

2) This thread has left me feeling that photos uploaded are considered (to a degree) exclusive by some folk and that's just a little uncomfortable for me. I already have issues with submitting photos as once they are uploaded I effectively lose control of them - no editing, deleting, etc.

It's probably just me but I do sometimes feel that wab is little too much of a clique and over protective for its own good.

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by pxl8

Erm... could I get some clarification on a couple of points here?

1) Since when did using the word spam become so offensive that it needs censorship? I can understand wanting to prevent the act of spamming, but not the use of the word ?!?

2) This thread has left me feeling that photos uploaded are considered (to a degree) exclusive by some folk and that's just a little uncomfortable for me. I already have issues with submitting photos as once they are uploaded I effectively lose control of them - no editing, deleting, etc.

It's probably just me but I do sometimes feel that wab is little too much of a clique and over protective for its own good.

The images had better not be exclusive either, because some of mine are on at least two other web sites! They are your images, you can do anything you like with them. So far as I remember, all we are doing is allowing WAB to display them. You can even ask for an image to be removed, if you wish. You do not loose copyright control of any image used here. The relevant section says: We only ask that you grant us a royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to publish the material in the Wild About Britain websites.

Hope that makes it clear.

[Boddie]

Ive always been led to believe that putting the word spa* (in its entirety) in a forum can attract people who persue this activity. I have been told by a few developers that it is not good practice to include this word, and some others, as they can be utilised by spa**ers to find sites to target.

If this is not the case I am happy to be picked up on it.

[pxl8]

How would searching for the word spam aid spammers in their task?

Forums such as wab which require email confirmation of registration before posting are well defended against automated mailers.

[StuartDH]

Originally Posted by pxl8

1) Since when did using the word spam become so offensive that it needs censorship? I can understand wanting to prevent the act of spamming, but not the use of the word ?!?

As boddie mentioned, at one time it was quite common to have spammers looking out for their next place to hit, by searching for threads on the Internet that had a go at them. As far as I know it's not that common now, but there are still a couple of other words that attract the wrong type of activity from certain Internet users.

Originally Posted by pxl8

2) This thread has left me feeling that photos uploaded are considered (to a degree) exclusive by some folk and that's just a little uncomfortable for me. I already have issues with submitting photos as once they are uploaded I effectively lose control of them - no editing, deleting, etc.

The images are definitely not exclusive, and the options to edit them were initially removed, because in the early days we had a few members that upload wildlife images, got them moderated and then replaced them with something completely different

Originally Posted by pxl8

It's probably just me but I do sometimes feel that wab is little too much of a clique and over protective for its own good.

Apologies if it comes over that way, it's certainly not our intention. In fact, we aim to be exactly the opposite, and often ask for all members involvement in developing the site. If there's any way that we can improve the situation then please let me know and I'll look into it.

Cheers

Stu

[pxl8]

Originally Posted by glsammy

One point, it is possible to edit, or even change an image. The image tools at the top of the page allows you to change virtually everything, name, text and even the picture.

Thanks for the info, I must have missed that one but to be honest it's the inability to delete I'm more concerned about.

[Boddie]

Cool
I stand corrected.

Cheers for the gen

[StuartDH]

Originally Posted by pxl8

How would searching for the word spam aid spammers in their task?

Forums such as wab which require email confirmation of registration before posting are well defended against automated mailers.

The way it used to work, was that spamming would come up in a forum topic and people would slate the spammers, viciously insult them and attack their activity. As a result, red rag to a bull, the spammers would attack the site's email system to showoff their skills in overloading the system and creating a denial of service. Consequently, we'd really rather not have spam topics on the forum in the first place.

Stu

[carlj]

How such a defenceless, processed meat pro