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Private vs Public messages to individuals

FollowingHim

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Today someone accidentally sent me a message that was intended to be private, but did so in a way that everyone in the forum could see it. This is a very easy mistake to make with the new software, so to avoid doing this accidentally, read this.

There are two different ways you can send a message to a particular individual.
  1. A public message on their "Profile". This message can be viewed by anyone who looks at a person's profile - and will even appear on the right-hand side of the main forum home page under the heading "New Profile Posts", so anybody viewing the website will see it very clearly. For instance, my profile is here. Your profile may be found by hovering over your username (top right) and clicking "Your Profile Page".
    If you use Facebook, think of this like posting a message onto someone's "Wall".
  2. A private "Conversation" with a person. Just beside your username (top right of this page) will be an icon that differs depending on the theme but which is for "Conversations". These are for private messages to one or more people. It works like a forum discussion thread, except only you and the people you are sending the message to can see it.
    If you use Facebook, think of this like Facebook "Messages".
 
How to delete private "Conversations"
You "Leave", rather than "Delete" conversations. Leave means delete.

Because there may be many people in a conversation, and some may wish to retain a record of it in their inbox while others may want to remove it, one person cannot delete the entire conversation. Rather, each person involved can choose to leave it - and when you leave a conversation, it disappears from your conversations list / inbox. If everyone in a conversation leaves it, the conversation should be automatically deleted from the server.

To leave a conversation, either:
  • From inside the conversation, click "Leave this conversation" (above the first post), or
  • From in your Conversations page, click the checkbox to the left of the conversation (you can select multiple conversations), then choose "Leave Conversations" in the dropdown menu.
 
Did you type their name in correctly? A couple of people have had their usernames changed recently for privacy reasons, go to a post of theirs and check their name.
If that isn't the problem tell me exactly what you did and what the error was by private message or email to samuel@biblicalfamilies.org and I''ll look into it further.
 
It is saying I may not start a conversation with the recipient <name removed by moderator>
 
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If you click on your name (top right), and select "Contact details", you can edit how people can contact you. You can choose not to receive conversations from anybody, or receive them only from people that you "follow". The user you mentioned has chosen not to receive private messages from anybody (ie they have unchecked the box "Accept conversations from..."). I would suggest you contact them by writing a public message on their "wall".
 
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