# Why is private messaging disabled? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [June 23, 2005, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-private-messaging-disabled/309527 "2005-06-23T13:49:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-private-messaging-disabled/309527/1 "2005-06-23T13:49:22Z")
I can appreciate the reasons behind most of the disabled features, but this one I’m not sure on. I noticed a poster had chosen an incorrect word in another post and wanted to send them a quiet message behind the scenes to correct it rather than post in a thread and bring it to the attention of other people. (Bleh.) May I please enquire as to the reasons behind the no-PM ruling? Cheers, -BWP. 😃 PS: To the poster I \*wanted \* to contact quietly: the word for someone who makes hats is ‘milliner’. The word you used refers to someone who sells sewing supplies. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-private-messaging-disabled/309527/2 "2005-06-23T14:16:45Z")
I believe it has to do with taxing the hamsters too much. The servers just can’t take the load-they can barely handle the board itself as it is. At least, that’s what we’ve been told. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-private-messaging-disabled/309527/3 "2005-06-23T16:33:59Z")
> [@Bites When Provoked](#): > > I noticed a poster had chosen an incorrect word in another post and wanted to send them a quiet message behind the scenes to correct it rather than post in a thread and bring it to the attention of other people. (Bleh.) Of course with the ‘Edit’ feature also disabled, they can’t go back and change it anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-private-messaging-disabled/309527/4 "2005-06-23T18:09:43Z")
Actually, I seem to remember hearing that because private messages are, well, private, there’s no way for the mods to make sure they aren’t abused. They didn’t want to deal with the hassle of people PM’ing death threats or spam or whatnot. ---
**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:** [June 23, 2005, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-private-messaging-disabled/309527/5 "2005-06-23T20:08:41Z")
You’ve all mentioned the reasons why it’s not being used at the present time. It may be utilized at some point in the future if we can solve at least some of the problems it brings with it. your humble TubaDiva ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-private-messaging-disabled/309527/6 "2005-06-24T12:59:31Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Actually, I seem to remember hearing that because private messages are, well, private, there’s no way for the mods to make sure they aren’t abused. They didn’t want to deal with the hassle of people PM’ing death threats or spam or whatnot. Actually, admin can usually read PMs. But to do so, they’d have to go through each person’s inbox, and that would probably be far too much of a hassle around here. ---
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2005, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-private-messaging-disabled/309527/7 "2005-06-25T03:46:23Z")
Plus why bother using the PM feature when you can email them perfectly fine…and if they have their email turned off, then they probably don’t wanna hear from you anyway. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2005, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-private-messaging-disabled/309527/8 "2005-06-25T17:22:15Z")
I think it’s been asked and answered quite clearly. I’d just like to press again the idea that enabling PMs and limiting them to ones to and from staff (administrators, moderators, and perhaps SDSAB) is a good move for efficient management of the board.