# Why is the 'private message' feature disabled on this board?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-private-message-feature-disabled-on-this-board/165912
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [April 2, 2003, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-private-message-feature-disabled-on-this-board/165912 "2003-04-02T06:15:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@DEVA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DEVA)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2003, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-private-message-feature-disabled-on-this-board/165912/1 "2003-04-02T06:15:43Z")
Just wondering.
And if it’s not too personal: How is this board funded? Do you accept ‘donations’ from your members? I only ask because another board I frequent (also powered by vBulletin) accepts contributions from its board members.
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### Author:  [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2003, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-private-message-feature-disabled-on-this-board/165912/2 "2003-04-02T06:24:58Z")
Private messages are disabled here because the server is overworked without them.
This board is funded by the [Chicago Reader](http://www.chicagoreader.com). I don’t believe that donations are accepted.
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### Author:  [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2003, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-private-message-feature-disabled-on-this-board/165912/3 "2003-04-02T06:33:57Z")
But, you can spend your money in support by purchasing items from the [https://securesite.chireader.com/cgi-bin/dopestore/buystuff.bat](https://securesite.chireader.com/cgi-bin/dopestore/buystuff.bat)
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### Author:  [@skaterboarder87](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skaterboarder87)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2003, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-private-message-feature-disabled-on-this-board/165912/4 "2003-04-02T06:55:03Z")
Yes, that always bothered me. And also that we can’t edit our messages. To my understanding, it’s so that people can’t change a meaning of their post in an argument, thus throwing off subsequent posts, but I have never seen this an issue on any other forum. Hell, even if it were, GQ isn’t a debate forum, thus they could/should enable it here, and turn it off in Great Debates, etc,
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2003, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-private-message-feature-disabled-on-this-board/165912/5 "2003-04-02T08:13:40Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by skaterboarder87 \*
> **To my understanding, it’s so that people can’t change a meaning of their post in an argument, thus throwing off subsequent posts, but I have never seen this an issue on any other forum.**
I have; I am a member at a board devoted to the creation/evolution debate; I have seen quite a few examples of people making bold unsupported assertions or repeating hoary old fallacies or misinformation, then editing it out and denying everything when challenged (doesn’t really wash when nearly everybody has quoted the original post).
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2003, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-private-message-feature-disabled-on-this-board/165912/6 "2003-04-02T08:17:38Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by skaterboarder87 \*
> \*\*Yes, that always bothered me. And also that we can’t edit our messages. To my understanding, it’s so that people can’t change a meaning of their post in an argument, thus throwing off subsequent posts, but I have never seen this an issue on any other forum. Hell, even if it were, GQ isn’t a debate forum, thus they could/should enable it here, and turn it off in Great Debates, etc, \*\*
I also don’t think that the software will allow you to turn it on and off in a particular forum. It’s an all or nothing proposition.
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### Author:  [@DEVA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DEVA)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2003, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-private-message-feature-disabled-on-this-board/165912/7 "2003-04-02T13:40:24Z")
As for the edit option: the other board I go to allows you to edit, but only within a specified amount of time. I believe we get **20** minutes to edit a post before we can longer have edit accessibility. It works pretty good. I HATE typos and usually don’t find them all during my first skimming…so I usually use the edit option to fix typos 🙂
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### Author:  [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2003, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-private-message-feature-disabled-on-this-board/165912/8 "2003-04-02T14:23:07Z")
Since this is a question About This Message Board, I’ll move it to ATMB.
Off to ATMB.
**DrMatrix** - GQ Moderator
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### Author:  [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2003, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-private-message-feature-disabled-on-this-board/165912/9 "2003-04-02T14:37:43Z")
**DEVA** , you get used to proofreading before hitting Submit pretty quickly. As some people here say, Preview is your friend.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2003, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-private-message-feature-disabled-on-this-board/165912/10 "2003-04-02T16:05:42Z")
A 20 minute edit window works just fine on smaller boards, where nobody’s likely to read or respond to it in that time. But here, you can get responses before the thread even refreshes for you to catch the mistake.
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### Author:  [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2003, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-private-message-feature-disabled-on-this-board/165912/11 "2003-04-02T21:51:19Z")
The last thing we need is some Troll nailing people with 200 personal messages from half a dozen socks. And this board has just the idiot returnophiles to do that.
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### Author:  [@Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aslan_of_Narnia)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2003, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-private-message-feature-disabled-on-this-board/165912/12 "2003-04-02T22:57:38Z")
Why no straight donations to the SDMB?
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### Author:  [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2003, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-private-message-feature-disabled-on-this-board/165912/13 "2003-04-03T00:58:05Z")
How about “Buy an email from Cecil!” where you buy and email from Cecil for X amount of dollars?
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2003, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-private-message-feature-disabled-on-this-board/165912/14 "2003-04-03T02:44:29Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Why no straight donations to the SDMB?
Basically, because there’s a lot of paperwork, beaurocracy, and regulations involved in accepting donations, and the Powers that Be have decided that they’re more trouble than they’re worth.
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### Author:  [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2003, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-private-message-feature-disabled-on-this-board/165912/15 "2003-04-03T18:16:47Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Tuckerfan \*
> \*\*I also don’t think that the software will allow you to turn it on and off in a particular forum. It’s an all or nothing proposition. \*\*
Sure it can. Remember my Board? You just posted there…? 😉 The Members Only Forum allows unlimited time editing, opening, and closing, etc. for Members. But in all other forums they can only edit for an hour. And in some they can’t edit at all, or even post.
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### Author:  [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2003, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-private-message-feature-disabled-on-this-board/165912/16 "2003-04-03T18:19:51Z")
On the PM question - PMs do not really seem to add much to the server load if used lightly, but if heavily used, they can really bog things down very fast. Especially when you could have someone mailing spam to their entire buddy list. Plus, the sent/received messages need to be stored, and this takes up space.
And, of course, turning the PMs on also gives you all of the human-relations potential for trouble that running a mail server does. On a small Board with no assgoblins, this works out great. Elsewhere, there can be serious issues…