# I Am Officially An SDMB Idiot **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 3, 2008, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-officially-an-sdmb-idiot/458665 "2008-08-03T02:53:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-officially-an-sdmb-idiot/458665/1 "2008-08-03T02:53:29Z")
Which I am sure comes as **no big surprise** to most of you who read my posts. However, the reason I am an SDMB idiot is that I never realized I had “private messages” here on the board! I have been here since July of 2001 and you would think that, oh, I donno, somewhere in the past seven years I might have noticed that little line up above mentioning I had private messages?! Seriously - I had messages that were over a year old! To anyone who sent me a message in the past that I never responded to, my deepest apologies! Geez, next thing you know they will be telling me you can search threads or somethin’. Damn newfangled technology… ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-officially-an-sdmb-idiot/458665/2 "2008-08-03T02:54:50Z")
Huh, we do? how do i check them? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-officially-an-sdmb-idiot/458665/3 "2008-08-03T02:59:05Z")
[QUOTE=DigitalC] Huh, we do? how do i check them? [/QUOTE] Top left corner of the screen. Click the [Private Messages](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/private.php?) link under your logged-in name. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-officially-an-sdmb-idiot/458665/4 "2008-08-03T02:59:48Z")
Up in the top right corner, where it says: > [@](#): > > **Welcome, Squink.** > You last visited: Today at 09:20 PM > Private Messages: Unread 932, Total 933. Click on the private messages link… ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-officially-an-sdmb-idiot/458665/5 "2008-08-03T03:00:55Z")
Oh well i assume since mine doesn’t say that i don’t have any. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-officially-an-sdmb-idiot/458665/6 "2008-08-03T03:01:02Z")
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.] Top left corner [/QUOTE] Your _other_ top left. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-officially-an-sdmb-idiot/458665/7 "2008-08-03T03:01:28Z")
[QUOTE=DigitalC] Huh, we do? how do i check them? [/QUOTE] In your user Control Panel (User CP), on teh left navigation collum is a heading “private messages”/ Also, under your user name on the upper right is the Private messages link showing unread and total messages. You need to have Private Messages turned on (under options) to received them. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-officially-an-sdmb-idiot/458665/8 "2008-08-03T03:02:05Z")
[QUOTE=Squink] Your _other_ top left. 😉 [/QUOTE] Would you believe I had my screen turned around? ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-officially-an-sdmb-idiot/458665/9 "2008-08-03T03:04:05Z")
[QUOTE=DMark] I have been here since July of 2001 and you would think that, oh, I donno, somewhere in the past seven years I might have noticed that little line up above mentioning I had private messages? [/QUOTE] It’s not been active for all that long. I don’t remember the details but it’s only been in the last year that we’ve gotten to use the PM’s. ---
**Author:** ![Stealth\_Potato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-officially-an-sdmb-idiot/458665/10 "2008-08-03T03:57:16Z")
[QUOTE=DigitalC] Oh well i assume since mine doesn’t say that i don’t have any. [/QUOTE] Actually, apparently it means that you have private messages disabled. You have to turn them on in the user control panel before the link actually shows up. I just now tried to find mine, and I got an error message indicating same when I clicked **Q.E.D.**'s link. I too had no idea we had private messages. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-officially-an-sdmb-idiot/458665/11 "2008-08-03T04:04:34Z")
Interesting - Never paid any attention to that option. Had a few questions that were kind of old and deleted them ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-officially-an-sdmb-idiot/458665/12 "2008-08-03T04:08:34Z")
When I get a PM (private message) I get an email notification that I have one. Also, when I go to the dope, I get a pop up message telling me I have a private message. ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-officially-an-sdmb-idiot/458665/13 "2008-08-03T04:25:55Z")
Holy crap, I had one too. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-officially-an-sdmb-idiot/458665/14 "2008-08-03T09:44:07Z")
[QUOTE=Zebra] _\_ I get a pop up message telling me I have a private message. [/QUOTE] I knew about PMs, but I didn’t notice this option. Now it’s activated, which is good, because I’ve been known to go days without noticing that I have a message. Not that it’s a big deal - I get them so rarely. Anyway, thanks for mentioning this, **Zebra**!! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-officially-an-sdmb-idiot/458665/15 "2008-08-03T16:33:39Z")
Man, I didn’t know about it either. Sorry **Otaluki**! ---
**Author:** ![Danalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@Danalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danalan)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-officially-an-sdmb-idiot/458665/16 "2008-08-03T16:55:13Z")
I’ve had one private message. Just one. I always figured private messages were pretty much the province of the popular kids. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-officially-an-sdmb-idiot/458665/17 "2008-08-03T16:58:38Z")
[QUOTE=IvoryTowerDenizen] In your user Control Panel (User CP), [/QUOTE] I thought I was the only one who had “User CP”. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-officially-an-sdmb-idiot/458665/18 "2008-08-03T17:18:21Z")
[QUOTE=Squink] **Welcome, Squink.** You last visited: Today at 09:20 PM Private Messages: Unread 932, Total 933. [/QUOTE] HA! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-officially-an-sdmb-idiot/458665/19 "2008-08-03T18:26:48Z")
After opening this thread, I noticed I had one PM. It was only a day old too. I never had paid attention to the PM button because I assumed I would never get one. Surprise! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-officially-an-sdmb-idiot/458665/20 "2008-08-03T18:48:51Z")
[QUOTE=Chefguy] Man, I didn’t know about it either. Sorry **Otaluki**! [/QUOTE] Oops, I mean **OtakuLoki**. :smack: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-officially-an-sdmb-idiot/458665.md?page=2)