Does anyone have any objections if I setup this forum to automatically delete private messages after 6 months? Messages would NOT be deleted if you move them to a custom folder (they would only be auto-deleted from Inbox and Sent). Was also tossing around the idea of deleting Read Receipts for private messages after a 12 months.
I can't see anybody caring about read receipts after 12 months. I would not be keen on losing PMs after any period of time, I'm not in the habit of moving mine into separate folders but probably should do as I seem to send and recieve PMs at an alarming rate. Is this a space/performance issue, if so couldn't you just reduce the max message space allowed for less active members.
Do you actually go back and reread your PMs? It's not really a space/performance issue, I just like to keep things "clean". Currently there are about 150MB worth of PMs being stored. But seems silly to eventually be storing gigs and gigs worth of old PMs to me.
I don't see any problems with deleting old messages, why not use 6 months also for the read receipts?
Its funny you should ask that, I'm now right on the limit of my message store and am going back looking at which ones I can delete. Admittedly I do delete the majority but there are certainly some I wouldn't want to lose. I have exported them but the format isn't the most user friendly. It would be good if you could export them and then import them into your regular email client.
Well my idea was that if you put them in a custom folder (for example Stuff To Keep or something), they would NOT be deleted (ever) unless you did it. You can manage custom PM folders in the User CP here: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/private.php?do=editfolders
It will take me a bit of getting used to but would save me time in the long run. I still have some crap messages of AC that I kept for nostalgia reasons
I have no problem with deleting pm's after x amount of time, although I think the majority of people will just save all their messages in the folder anyway.
dct has expressed my views on this. I save most of the Sent messages that are important in there so that I can reference them in the future. Shawn - is there any way to increase the number of allowed saved PMs? I don't need every single one I have saved, but going through all 800+ of them would be time consuming. Thanks.
Yeah, I can set it to unlimited if I wanted, but that would make the current issue worse, not better (the issue being in a few years, I don't want to be storing 10GB+ worth of old PMs for people).
There are some I was trying to find the other day, but since I'm close to hitting my limit for the second time, I cannot find it. If something is important, members should save it somewhere LOL, it's guys like you who slow down the speed of forums
Hmm. Here's an idea, Shawn --- how much trouble would it be to have an "Email Private Messages" feature? That way, you could have your PMs emailed to you, and then delete them. Perhaps have two options... email checked PMs, or email all PMs stored in a certain folder (such as the Sent folder). What do you think? Then I don't think anyone would have any problem with deletion since they could pull what is needed off any time with ease. For me, if they were emailed, I could more quickly sort through the ones I need, categorize them into the appropriate folder, and delete the ones I don't.