So, this forum gives warnings when you post on a thread that you are sending a member a PM? I fail to see how that is seen as having no value or inflating post count. I have the conversation from the treads in question in my Inbox, so I am not making any type of irrelevant post. Any moderators care to chime in. What is wrong with making a relevant statement?
It’s been a rule since the forum started. https://www.digitalpoint.com/help/posting By using the forum, you agree to those rules. When a member receives a PM they get an alert, no need to post it, just send the PM. Lesson learned, just move on.
Don't be too hard on the mods. Often they may want to cut members some slack but if a member files a report they will usually act on it. The mods need members to report as they are too busy to catch everything. Failing to act on a report could cause the reporter to not file reports, not good for the mods ability to do the job. I was a part time moderator so this comes from personal experience. Hang in there and keep smiling.
We've got old threads that are full of "pm sent" posts and they make it hard to see the real feedback and questions on a thread. The forum notifies the recipient when you send a private conversation message. There is absolutely no value in proclaiming it in the thread as well.
It would be easier to integrate a little code and just auto stop those types of posts with a little note. No mod involvement, no future headache for users.
back when we first brought the rule in users got very creative to stop us searching for the phrase. They'd put p.m. or mp instead. They'd add ingratiating nonsense around it. It's now a small issue since users have learnt to trust that recipients are notified on most platforms and assume this will be the same. As a rule of thumb, if a mod has to respond to a report they'll probably give a warning.