Privacy, when is the admin overstepping it?

[Shole]

So I thought about it, and the question is what is your thought on admins checking your pms?

 

[BrolySSJ]

So I thought about it, and the question is what is your thought on admins checking your pms?

I think that there are times that this may actually be necessary because there are times that there are members in a forum that will harass another member or say things that are very harmful and hurtful as well and i think that this is a major concern. However i think that the admin should not always be monitoring pms. Instead they should only look at it when the conversation is reported to them.

 

[HK World]

I think monitoring members' personal/private messages is essential to create a safe environment for everyone. Admin must interfere and take action if members report someone's comment who spreads hatred or any kind of negativity.

 

[Shole]

I think that there are times that this may actually be necessary because there are times that there are members in a forum that will harass another member or say things that are very harmful and hurtful as well and i think that this is a major concern. However i think that the admin should not always be monitoring pms. Instead they should only look at it when the conversation is reported to them.

Yeah I agree with the premises of having admins look into harassment and such abusive message, but what about just regular messages, some private exchanges. I am very against it since I'd rather have someone wait until I report it before taking actions.

 

[BrolySSJ]

Yeah I agree with the premises of having admins look into harassment and such abusive message, but what about just regular messages, some private exchanges. I am very against it since I'd rather have someone wait until I report it before taking actions.

That is also true, however think about it this way - when you are active on these forums there are a lot of people that have malicious intent and therefore they will tend to send you messages to try and scam you out of money with false claims and so forth, and if the admin is able to monitor those messages they will be able to intervene if necessary before someone had to fall victim to such a scam and prevent this person from messaging anyone else in the forum.

 

[Kane]

When sites like Facebook and Whatsapp invade users' privacy and read users' messages, what's the issue with admin reading your private messages? I do not have any issue with this. The best thing is never to use these sites to share personal details

 

[Ja sa bong]

I've never cared about any forum administrative teams reading my personal messages on the forum. They won't see anything because I don't send any DM to any forum members. The only DMs they are going to read is the one's they sent me.

 

[Shortie]

So I thought about it, and the question is what is your thought on admins checking your pms?

This is something I am completely against unless there is a very good reason as to why the PMs needed to be checked in the first place.

I have known admins in the past to check up on member's PMs just to see what was going on between them and another member because they thought that it may affect their site.

There is a line you can cross when it comes to checking PMs and unless there is a valid or possibly legal reason to do so, I do not believe it should be done.

 

[Frank]

I think that there are times that this may actually be necessary because there are times that there are members in a forum that will harass another member or say things that are very harmful and hurtful as well and i think that this is a major concern. However i think that the admin should not always be monitoring pms. Instead they should only look at it when the conversation is reported to them.

When it is necessary, an admin should use the checking of pms privileges to see what is going on. However, this is not something that should happen always. So, I am of the opinion that administrators on forums shouldn't make it a habit to jump from one pm to another unsolicited as that may make members feel most of their talks on the forums are not safe.