Automatic deletion (pruning) of PMs

[David Baxter PhD]

Please note that as of today old Private Messages (PMs) will be deleted after

• 90 days for admins and moderators
• 75 days for MVPs
• 60 days for Full Members
• 30 days for New Members and all others

If there are particular messages you want to save, you can download them to your computer.

 

[Cat Dancer]

I have a stupid question. Does this include visitor messages too?

 

[David Baxter PhD]

I have a stupid question. Does this include visitor messages too?

To be honest, I'm not sure.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

I'm reviving this thread and making it sticky in response to a question from a forum member.

1. Regarding the question about Visitor Messages (VMs), they are handled separately and are pruned automatically after 30 days for all members.

2. There is one additional circumstance in which you may find PMs or VMs missing: When a member is banned, for spamming or other rule violations, as a precaution PMs and VMs sent by that member are automatically deleted.

 

[Cat Dancer]

Dr. Baxter am I correct in adding that just because a PM from a banned member is removed it does not mean it has been read by any admin? I just wanted to reassure members that personal messages are not read by anyone else but the person sending them and the person receiving them.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Dr. Baxter am I correct in adding that just because a PM from a banned member is removed it does not mean it has been read by any admin? I just wanted to reassure members that personal messages are not read by anyone else but the person sending them and the person receiving them.

Yes, that is correct. It simply executes a database query to delete all PMs sent by that member and then reports the number of PMs deleted (which may be zero). If it returns a result (say 10 PMs), I don't even know to whom those PMs may have been addressed, let alone anything about the contents.