Private PMs?

[284]

Anyone else get them, from posters with zero posts, PMing you about how to do their tile job in their home?

[ckl111]

Very rarely but unless it is location specific, like someone asking about a local supplier, I encourage them to start a new thread. The idea of the forums is to share ideas so we don't have to repeat things so many times. I'm sure there are a lot of people completing projects just by searching the forums and never posting a single question. That could never happen if everybody PMed everything.

[Shaughnn]

Gary,
Yes, we all get them. Some people are self-conscious, some distrust public posting in general, some imagine a more personal experience through private email, and some just don't understand how these forums work. If anyone get such a request for private assistance you've got a few options available to you. You can answer the questions to the best of your ability, you can respectfully ask the questioner to re-post their question to the forums so that others can benefit from your answers, you can choose to ignore the questioner entirely or you can suggest that the write to one of the moderators (who will then take one of the three preceding actions. Please do not be rude or dismissive though. We are trying to be helpful here and we don't want someone's mistake in etiquette to reflect poorly on the forum as a whole.
Thank you,
Shaughnn

[davem]

Thanks Colin, that's a great reply to requests like that.

[ceramictec]

I do get a lot of them and it is usually someone asking me to clarify something I or another posted on a thread they read. or about doing a Job for them in my area of Florida which I dont mind.

I dont mind helping them out, and also encourage them to start a new thread. I agree with Shaughnn, I helped a guy by PM that was a member since 2006 and never posted. some just lurk but they all need to be treated equally.

and there is also this:

Please - Post your How-To questions on the Forum rather than in private messages so that others can benefit from the question and answer dialog. Thanks!

[cx]

I generally copy and paste that sentence Brian just posted above, pointing out to the PMer that he/she must have missed it right above the PM dialog box (even though it's in big, bold, black print in a big, bold, bright yellow box) and that we do encourage folks to post their questions on the public forums.

If I started trying to answer each question privately I'd spend my entire life on the website. Instead of just most of it.

[ddmoit]

I get some now and again. I always reply. Unless there is a clear reason for using a PM instead of a forum post, I suggest making a post for the purpose of sharing the advice and learning.

[Davestone]

Yep, wait till you start gettin a couple long distance phone calls a day.... instead of jobs.

[HS345]

I get 'em occasionally, I encourage them to start a thread in the advice forum, I am never rude, or dismissive. I'm only rude and dismissive inna Mud Box with fellow forum members.

If it is an easily answered question, I will usually answer it, and, encourage them to start their own thread, and point 'em inna right direction via links and such.

[Shaughnn]

Dave,
I think I've had less than fifty phone calls from forum members. I think you make your number too easy to track down.
Shaughnn

[kate42]

Since I'm just a Mud Boxer, I have no problems with PMs.

For me a PM is just another tool to communicate with other forum members just to say hello.

[MudGuy]

Why is this a sticky?

[LadyGodiva]

How come I don't get those?

[kate42]

I'll send you one.

Your mailbox is full.

[jjwq8]

Surely all PMS is private or is my google chrome failing to translate correctly?