Private Message question

[ssandgirls]

Hi everyone,

Just wondering how members can tell if PMs have been read or not?

With phpBB unread PMs are in the outbox, and when read move to the sentbox.

Members are asking how they tell when PM has been read with our New VBulletin ( we have just transferred to VB 4 days ago.)

I know there is the request read receipt, but if the recipient declines that, is there still a way the senders can tell if PMs were read?

Many thanks,

Terrie

[Shazz]

Originally Posted by ssandgirls

Hi everyone,

Just wondering how members can tell if PMs have been read or not?

With phpBB unread PMs are in the outbox, and when read move to the sentbox.

Members are asking how they tell when PM has been read with our New VBulletin ( we have just transferred to VB 4 days ago.)

I know there is the request read receipt, but if the recipient declines that, is there still a way the senders can tell if PMs were read?

Many thanks,

Terrie

For senders if the receipt was declined the sender would never know if it was read.

[ssandgirls]

Is there a way to have the outbox/sentbox set up like phpBB. So far VBulletin has everything and more... but the members are missing not having the messages go from outbox to sentbox when read. are there any modifications/hacks to change this?

[Dave Hawley]

With phpBB unread PMs are in the outbox, and when read move to the sentbox

Say what???

[ssandgirls]

With phpBB.. PMs that havent been opened are in the senders outbox and can still be edited while in there. Once the recipient receives them, they move to the sender "Sent box"

My members are wondering if VBulletin has anything similar?

[Dave Hawley]

How strange. Normally an Outbox is for holding mail before being sent, or as it's in the process of being sent. The Sent Box is normally just as the name states, that is, for mail that's been sent.

[charmedhour]

It's not strange at all; it's very useful. Some people disable read receipts, so the only way to know if a person has read your PM or not is if there is a "outbox [unread] vs. sent [read] private message" type feature similar to phpBB. Perhaps you disagree with the terminology, but on a practical level, it's a great feature.

Additionally, the ability to edit an unread message is very nice. Maybe you forgot to add something... without the differentiation between unread and read in what's been sent, you have to send another PM and clutter up the person's Inbox.

It's the only complaint my members have switching from phpBB to vBulletin.

So, rather than judging the question, how about providing the answer?

Is there the ability to tell if a message is unread in vBulletin other than the "read receipt" option, and is there the ability to edit unread messages?

Since this is an older thread I am hoping that the new version has this feature, since above it appears the old one did not. Or perhaps there is a hack?

[Dave Hawley]

Set their UserGroup so they can't deny read reciepts.

[Videx]

It sounds like some clever coder at PHPBB has decided to rewrite the whole venerated system of mail. As long as a message hasn't been read, it's still editable by the sender.

But he erred in not renaming the boxes. An 'outbox' is where mail waits to be delivered, not where it waits to be read.

An interesting concept, but I doubt it'll catch on, because most people don't like 'read receipts', and will disable them if given a chance. Doesn't PHPBB give the reader the chance to disable the read receipt? If so, it would sit in the sender's outbox forever, despite having been read long ago.

[charmedhour]

You're absolutely right about the resentment garnered by forced read receipts, Videx, so I hesitate to take such a measure.

However, phpBB does not use "read receipts" - the user does not have the ability to hide whether or not they have read the message. You can tell simply by whether it's moved from the outbox to the sent box.

You'd think this would also garner resentment but actually, it never did. I think it's something psychologically about having that "sender has requested read receipt" box pop up in your face and thinking "Why does this person want to get in my business?" that causes a negative reaction. Since phpBB doesn't have that - it's ALWAYS marked as read - people just accept it. In fact, as senders, they like it. "Why hasn't Leslie replied? Oh, she hasn't read it yet" (or vice versa). And the editable feature... "CRAP I shouldn't have said that! Did it in the heat of the moment... Better fix it before it's read!" lol

A pity vBulletin doesn't seem to have this feature or even a hack for it. Surprising, since there are a myriad of other useful hacks, that this has been overlooked. It was quite popular among my users, and I also appreciated it personally. Perhaps one day, some clever coder will do it for vBulletin as well.

Right now, I'll just tell my users that no software is perfect. They are pleased with vBulletin overall, but it's natural that not EVERYTHING will be better.

Thanks for the replies.