Please allow Private Messages without "Following"

[TomE]

In the Lithium Forums I was able to send a Private Message to anyone.

I used that to send messages to people that would have been embarrassing to them had I posted it in a public forum, or to send them code samples that I didn't want to show to the entire world.

Or to warn them QUICKLY that they should remove information from their posts before the "editing time" expires.

I can't do any of that any more.

In this new forum I find I can only send messages to "Followers", and have to make a "Follower Request" and get it approved by themn before I can send them the message. There doesn't even seem to be an option to add some descriptive text (to send the warning) in the Follower Request.

This Forum isn't Facebook. It isn't Twitter (yet :-). It shouldn't try to be. It shouldn't get in the way of technical work as much as it does.

So please change it so I can send messages without this "Follower" stuff.

Tom

[TomE]

It is worse than that. I just "Followed" someone I want to send a message to and he's accepted it.

I STILL can't send him a message! It seems that he has to follow me.

So I have to send him a private message requesting that he follow me so I can send him a private message?

This is blocking communication, not facilitating it.

Maybe that 2'47" minute video tells me how to get around this, but I don't want to watch a video to find out how to send a message, can't hear the sound at work, and the video won't play in Firefox under Linux either.

Another problem. On the page that shows Followers and Followees I clicked on the corner of the Icon for the person I'm trying to communicate with. The connection got deleted, without that action being obvious and without any confirmation or "undo". So I've lost that connection and can't tell the other party why I just "unfriended" them either.

Tom

[Paul_Kuhn]

Private Discussions allow you to start a discussion with one or more poeple and do not require an existing bi-directional relationship,

To start a Private Discussion :

1. In the header of the web page click "Create"
2. Select “Discussion”
3. Click “Private Discussion.”
4. Type the person's user name and your message.

[TomE]

Paul.Kuhn wrote:

> To start a Private Discussion :

That was to try to work around the fact that "Private Messages" are useless.

The "Private Discussion" idea was a complete fail as well. I assume there's nothing to prompt the intended recipient that there's something to read, as I never heard back.

With Lithium I could send a private message to anyone and usually get a response within a few minutes to a day. With the new forum I've been trying for about two weeks now to send ONE message. The Forum has successfully blocked all attempts at communication. If this wasn't part of the design brief, could you please fix it?

Tom

[sherri_yohe]

Hi Tom, I have removed the constraint and you should now be able to send priviate messages without being previously "connected" .  Please let us know if you can now send direct private messages.

[TomE]

Yes, I seem to be able to send private messages.

Has this constraint been removed for everyone, or just for me?

Is there any notification for someone that I send a message to that they have been sent a new message?

Tom

[Paul_Kuhn]

How the person is notified will depend on their unique settings.  As you point out the notifications and activity streams are not always obvious.  One of the major improvements in the next version of Jive, the software the community is built on, is improved notifications and activity streams.  We are tentatively scheduled to move to Jive v6 in July.  With the upgrade you will be able to set up multiple notifications streams and have more finite control over what does and does not come to email.

[Paul_Kuhn]

Oh!  We lifted the constraint across the community for all users.  Thanks Sherri!

[TomE]

Could I suggest that when the new version is rolled out, that some sort of "Wizard" run that takes people through the new features and helps them to set up their profile sensibly?

You could have this default to "Maximum alert settings" and "send email on all alerts" and  with the options for people to then turn them off if they don't want them. That means that "Private Messages" would be received, unlike now (from my limited testing).

If the accounts default to "everything off" out of some privacy concern, then sending Private Messages (to someone with alerts defaulting to "OFF" still won't work.

Could I point out that Freescale Employees ' "view" of this forum software may be different to the casual user. You may be using this software as part of Corporate Communications, and may have the pages open on your computer all the time. You may also check your "Forum Inbox" as often as you check your external email and Facebook pages :-). Most sensible people (meaning people not like me) using this forum only look at it when they've got a question pending. They need to use the Forum in a different (and frankly a lot SIMPLER) than "power users". The interface needs to be designed to meet the needs of both groups.

Tom

[TomE]

Thank you Paul.

I've just tried that.

Where will that message "show up" on the receiver's web page? If it only increments the number on his "in box" by one then he won't notice it. Since every forum post gets counted in the "Inbox Count" then any attempt at a "Private Discussion" is going to be buried.

The old Forum used to pop up a Yellow Envelope for Private Messages. I could also set it up so it sent me email when I got a private message and that guaranteed I wouldn't miss it.

I think the only way to notify the receiver of a "Private Discussion" is to reply in the Public Forum saying he has a Private Message. Not exactly "Private".

Tom

[Paul_Kuhn]

You make an excellent point.  Private discussions do not automatically go to the users email.  The relationship requirement is in place to prevent the use of direct messages as a SPAM tool.  I will discuss with the vendor at our next meeting if there is a way to force private conversations to the users email.

[TomE]

> Private discussions do not automatically go to the users email

Do you mean email or the forum inbox?

> The relationship requirement is in place to prevent the use of direct messages as a SPAM tool

Where did this requirement come from? Was there a SPAM abuse problem with the Lithium forum, or is this just a "feature" of the vendor code when their product is used with a non-professional and less polite user base? This is meant to be a Technical Forum after all.

There's also a "Catch 22". You can't get into a "relationship" without communicating and you can't communicate without a "relationship". Or at least without flooding the public forums with notices of requests for relationships.

Tom