Problems with PMs

[Bluebird]

I just tried to send a PM to an administrator and the message below came up (I've removed the name of the member) Is this because administrators can't receive PMs or because the administrator's mailbox is full?:

 

The following errors were found

The member (.....) cannot receive any new messages

This personal message has not been sent

[alison]

Good question. My inbox has been sitting at 100% of capacity for a while now, but it wasn't preventing me from receiving PMs as of yesterday evening, so I'm not sure whether the "mailbox full" option applies. I can't see why Admins shouldn't be able to receive PMs - I can certainly send them PMs, and I can't see why their settings in this respect should be any different from Mods.

[Bluebird]

I just tried again and, instead of sending it as a new message, I sent it as a reply to a message I'd received some time ago. This time it worked! Curiouser and curiouser.........

[Bruce]

Bluebird / All

 

You got the message because the Admin/Moderator had a full inbox - 100% capacity used.

 

The forum software appeared to do the right thing and tell you the message was not sent. It's analogous to the messages we get in email sometimes telling us that the message we tried to send a friend was not delivered because their inbox was full.

 

The way the forum seems to handle capacity limits is just to count the number of separate PM discussion threads you have used. The default appears to be 50. After that no new threads can be started, but old discussion threads can be added to. This explains why replying to an old message got through.

 

For regular exchanges email is best and no forum software is ever going to provide a setup as robust, well known and easy to use for all concerned. PMs are fine to initiate contact with new people but are no long term repository for important 'stuff' and serious exchanges should rapidly move to email which can be properly archived, searched etc. Everybody should periodically remove old PMs and keep their message storage quota/capacity from hitting 100% used.

 

You can see how much Quota you have used by:

• In the drop down associated with your forum User Name (top right of web page) select the 'Personal Messenger' option.
  
• In the column on the left is a section called 'Storage' and that shows your use of quota
  
• On the same page are listed your PMs and there is a facility to delete them as needed.
  

[John Mallinson]

The maximum number of messages (or threads as Bruce has pointed out) seems to be fixed at 50, though there is a get-out for Moderators that allows them to continue to send even though they've hit the allocation. As Bruce has also said, messaging on BalletcoForum is not a good substitute for email.

[Bluebird]

Bluebird / All

 

You got the message because the Admin/Moderator had a full inbox - 100% capacity used.

 

The forum software appeared to do the right thing and tell you the message was not sent. It's analogous to the messages we get in email sometimes telling us that the message we tried to send a friend was not delivered because their inbox was full.

 

The way the forum seems to handle capacity limits is just to count the number of separate PM discussion threads you have used. The default appears to be 50. After that no new threads can be started, but old discussion threads can be added to. This explains why replying to an old message got through.

 

 

Thanks, Bruce. I was using the PM system because I knew that particular administrator could access it more easily than email. The explanation you've provided will help me know what to do in the future.