When someone deletes a PM - either the recipient, or you, or another admin/owner of the board... it gets deleted from that database table. So, no.. once it's gone, it's gone.

However, if you make and save periodic backups of your database tables, you could recover that deleted message by looking through the data from an earlier period of time -- at some point after the message was sent and before it was removed.

in Italy this is illegal

Illegal in Norway too. And it's just morally wrong. Unless you inform your board members, which I highly doubt you do.

SGL.

Can you offer any supporting documentation? and BTW, way to bump a thread that's half a year old.

3 months.

The PM system works slightly differently to other areas of vbulletin - deleting a PM does not delete the text of the PM (at the time) - it just deletes the pmid record. The text gets deleted by one of the hourly cleanup crons (only if no pmid records point to it). Since people may have a record in their sent items folder, the PM will often still exist in the database.

Just bump because I've read Today message in a 'read pm's" mod forum and it link here, anyway there's the doc you want http://www.garanteprivacy.it/garante.../jsp/index.jsp can you use translators

there is nothing there stating that it is illegal in Italy to do such a thing. unethical, yes... but not illegal.

No, it is forbidden from the law to profane the other people's privacy, how to read the email on other computers, messages of the mobile phones and also in this case read the private messages of the other, I am Italian and I know some laws of my country about that, there are peoples that for this paid the penalty.

With the present laws in Italy, going in tribunal if they say a*s*s*h*o*l*e to a person.

Think for the above reason, Read private Message, what happen....

You'd go to that if you said what you just wrote to someone? Jeez, that would cause a lot of arguments, lawsuits and complaints in some situations (schools, sporting events, etc).

As for it being illegal there... and even though I don't live in that country... what if it's the terms of service and rules clearly outlined that all communications are monitored.

As to the topic creator... you've just made me think of what kind of mod is sadly missing... one to only allow members to soft delete PMs rather than fully deleting them from the database. So if anyone can make that, I think a lot of people would be grateful.