# Increase private message storage MASSIVELY **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [March 3, 2012, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-private-message-storage-massively/614608 "2012-03-03T01:17:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-private-message-storage-massively/614608/81 "2012-03-05T00:41:25Z")
> [@Trepa\_Mayfield](#): > > I distinctly remember PMing you about this very issue back when P2P was taken down and my membership ran out. I can’t prove it, because if I did, I’ve definitely deleted the PM by now because I ran out of space. I can think of a way you can quadruple your available storage for PMs. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-private-message-storage-massively/614608/82 "2012-03-05T00:47:00Z")
**Tuba** , did you just change it? My PM page now shows 500 available. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-private-message-storage-massively/614608/83 "2012-03-05T01:13:34Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > If it were the case that more pms would adversely affect the board, I would expect the administration to ask people to clean out their pm inboxes in previous instances of board instability. But they haven’t so they must not feel it will have an appreciable difference in how the board runs. You might be correct. Or perhaps the act of changing settings in vBulletin could cause problems, which is what I had in mind. But I was only speculating. > [@Frank](#): > > I can think of a way you can quadruple your available storage for PMs. Yes. But perhaps we might want to increase the level for paying members from 200 to some other number. Thus my inquiry upthread. That said, I doubt whether this will end up as a money spinner. Some math: 130,000 members \* 3K per message including overhead ~=400,000K per message = 400MB per message per member. 100 messages -\> 40GB. That amounts to maybe ?$0-$12/year? Of course I doubt whether a change in policy will increase average stored messages by 100 per member. ETA: I still have a limit of 200 PMs. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-private-message-storage-massively/614608/84 "2012-03-05T01:18:30Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > ETA: I still have a limit of 200 PMs. Maybe it’s been that way all along from when I was a moderator. I haven’t looked at in . . . well, ever, I guess, until today. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-private-message-storage-massively/614608/85 "2012-03-05T01:32:50Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > To add to that thought… How would you even determine fairly who is considered a game player and therefore gets more messages than everyone else? What if the game player was a Guest? It’s totally impractical. > > Unless you meant to say that you hadn’t considered game players when you originally set the limit so that’s why it was so low, then you have a fair point. The only reasonable way to solve that problem would be to increase it for everyone or for all paid members. Well, yes, that would be the reasonable and common sense thing to do, though it is probably against the Evil Jackbooted Nazi Mod creed. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-private-message-storage-massively/614608/86 "2012-03-05T02:22:47Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > **Tuba** , did you just change it? My PM page now shows 500 available. Mine shows 200 available. -D/a ---
**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:** [March 5, 2012, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-private-message-storage-massively/614608/88 "2012-03-05T02:25:14Z")
Reported. Spam? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-private-message-storage-massively/614608/89 "2012-03-05T02:25:56Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Reported. Spam? Damn right it’s spam. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-private-message-storage-massively/614608/90 "2012-03-05T02:55:14Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > I can think of a way you can quadruple your available storage for PMs. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-private-message-storage-massively/614608/91 "2012-03-05T03:06:00Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > Well, yes, that would be the reasonable and common sense thing to do, though it is probably against the Evil Jackbooted Nazi Mod creed. > > 🙂 Well, there’s that. Why do I always forget to consider that? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-private-message-storage-massively/614608/92 "2012-03-05T03:19:43Z")
> [@Trepa\_Mayfield](#): > > :rolleyes: Too bad. It’s a perfectly good solution. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-private-message-storage-massively/614608/93 "2012-03-05T04:14:59Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Too bad. It’s a perfectly good solution. Yeah, the same way a “solution” to getting better at Farmville is to buy farm cash. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-private-message-storage-massively/614608/94 "2012-03-05T06:10:55Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > This is the first I’ve heard of this. > > If the game players had come to us and said they needed more, we’d most likely give 'em more. But nothing was said. How were we to know it was ours for the asking? I mean, frankly, all of it used to be free. Once the gate came down, so to speak, we… or at least I, figured that it was a one way proposition… that you would have to pay from now on, to maintain certain aspects. And calling this straight out : How can we even know to know it was ours for the asking when you guys are pimping out the custom title under user names, at a buck a month or whatever. — Not to hijack, but whats the house take on that one? ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-private-message-storage-massively/614608/95 "2012-03-05T06:14:56Z")
> [@Trepa\_Mayfield](#): > > Yeah, the same way a “solution” to getting better at Farmville is to buy farm cash. With respect, the board doesn’t run itself. Nor is their business model especially profitable. ETA: Re: Meeko: “How can we even know to know it was ours for the asking when you guys are pimping out the custom title under user names, at a buck a month or whatever. — Not to hijack, but whats the house take on that one?” I confess I don’t understand the question. The price list is posted and the underlying marginal costs are probably in the range of 2% for cc charges. I think it’s understood that users are kicking in some pesos for the cause. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-private-message-storage-massively/614608/96 "2012-03-05T07:28:15Z")
> [@Meeko](#): > > How were we to know it was ours for the asking? > > I mean, frankly, all of it used to be free. Once the gate came down, so to speak, we… or at least I, figured that it was a one way proposition… that you would have to pay from now on, to maintain certain aspects. > > And calling this straight out : How can we even know to know it was ours for the asking when you guys are pimping out the custom title under user names, at a buck a month or whatever. — Not to hijack, but whats the house take on that one? It never hurts to ask. The worst thing we can say is “No.” 🙂 People ask us about stuff all the time. Sometimes we can do and sometimes we can’t. Varies. When we can do for the community – when resources allow, when management consents – we try to accommodate. We’ve not always been able to do as much as we would like, mostly because of resources. While things are not perfect today, the system seems stable and has been stable for some time. It wasn’t always so. As to why we charge for things like user titles – that’s because we get no funding from anything besides ads and subscriptions. It costs bux to keep this site up and running – all the site, not just the message board – and we need your help to keep on keeping on. Personal user titles came about because people asked for it and indicated a desire strong enough that they would pay for the privilege. ---
**Author:** ![spankthecrumpet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@spankthecrumpet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spankthecrumpet)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-private-message-storage-massively/614608/97 "2012-03-05T12:16:31Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > I’m not posting to pick on you- you seem genuinely surprised it could be taken badly. Look at the title. You all-capped MASSIVELY. That usually means yelling. Rather than asking if there is a reason, or if there is a way to increase it you don’t know about, you tell us “it’s utterly ridiculous” and “no sane reason” etc. You inform/lecture the staff about what the situation is (cost nothing to increase storage) rather asking if that’s the case. > > It’s not a nice way to offer a helpful suggestion or ask for help. > > I really don’t think you meant it to be rough, but perhaps you can see how it was. All good points. Consider myself suitably chastened 😃 ---
**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:** [March 5, 2012, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-private-message-storage-massively/614608/98 "2012-03-05T13:15:04Z")
> [@spankthecrumpet](#): > > All good points. Consider myself suitably chastened 😃 Well good, then. My work here is done. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-private-message-storage-massively/614608/99 "2012-03-05T14:12:15Z")
> [@Trepa\_Mayfield](#): > > Yeah, the same way a “solution” to getting better at Farmville is to buy farm cash. Nonsense. It’s simply a tiered plan. People who subscribe to the board get more benefits. If you’d like those benefits, you should subscribe. ---
**Author:** ![srzss05](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@srzss05](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srzss05)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-private-message-storage-massively/614608/100 "2012-03-05T14:14:05Z")
> [@spankthecrumpet](#): > > Oh, and a few people here have already said they have saved the messages as text files and deleted them… I mean - wtf? How is that not a problem? That sounds more like a solution to the problem rather than a problem to me. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-private-message-storage-massively/614608/101 "2012-03-05T20:27:16Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > This is the first real argument I’ve seen in this thread. Would 200 be sufficient? 300? 500? > > Against this is the possibility that flipping a VBulletin switch could have undesired consequences on board stability. This is a possibility in the same way that turning on the radio in your car could have undesired consequences in the transmission. I know this is everyone’s go-to argument for never changing anything, but it’s especially comical in this particular case because you’re arguing that message board software may not support the storage and display of, well, messages. The only difference between private messages and posts is that they are stored in different tables in the database. While TPTB are welcome to set whatever limits they like (and setting a small PM limit on guests isn’t a bad strategy to encourage membership purchases, although they should really vastly increase the limit for members for that to be effective), there isn’t any justification for it from a technical perspective. We’ve got 14 million posts. A few more PMs aren’t going to hurt anything. Note: I don’t personally care at all about the PM limits. But there’s no need for mystical voodoo to justify whatever setting is chosen. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-private-message-storage-massively/614608.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-private-message-storage-massively/614608.md?page=6)