private messages will be less private and more purple on august 31st

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

"Private Moosages" are going to be renamed to "Purple Moosages" on August 31st to reflect that you shouldn't have the expectation they remain private. We actually started talking about this before the recent current events. But now that even Google is saying not to expect privacy, it is high time to move forward.

This doesn't mean that the moderators are going to be routinely reading your Purple Moosages of course. We have better things to do. But we can. So don't Purple Moosage your credit card number or any embarrassing secrets! Or maybe you should email those juicy secrets

Wait - what if I already posted something I don't want you to read
This change is not taking effect until Saturday August 31st. You can go into your Inbox and delete any old PMs. Deleting them deletes them forever. We can't get them back for you. You can copy/paste them to your own machine if you want to keep them for posterity.

How far back do you keep PMs
We have all PMs that users chose not to delete going back to 2009. (January 3rd 2009 we migrated to the current forum software and we chose not to migrate PMs from the old system.)

What if I have a question about this change?
Just reply to this thread and a moderator will answer.

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In case you are wondering why we are using "moosage" instead of "message", see this cute notepad.

[Saurabh Pillai]

Does delete option for PMs remain available after 31st?

[margaret gillon]

Hi Jeanne,
I never thought about the Mooseages before.
It is my understanding that what you are saying is that the Mooseages are gmail accounts that the ranch gives to us when we register?
Thank you,

[fred rosenberger]

Saurabh Pillai -

I don't know for sure, but I believe you will still be able to do so. I haven't heard that this part is changing.




Margaret Gillon -

no. We do not provide you with a gmail account. Our software has the ability for users to send one another a message that doesn't go on the public board. Moderators can see them, if they really wanted to (trust me, we all have too much other stuff going on to care about a PM here). I'll send you one so you can see what they are about.

The forum called them "private messages" by default, but since they aren't REALLY private (see above comment about moderators), we thought the name should be updated.

[Tim Moores]

Jeanne Boyarsky wrote:But now that even Google is saying not to expect privacy

It seems that Google's message has been widely misunderstood, though: http://mashable.com/2013/08/14/google-email-privacy-out-of-context/

This doesn't mean that the moderators are going to be routinely reading your Purple Moosages of course.

Fair enough, I guess, but what does it mean? Did something change about this site that would impact the use or monitoring of these messages?

[margaret gillon]

but what does it mean? Did something change about this site that would impact the use or monitoring of these messages?

Yes, this question is what I am trying to understand as well.

[Bear Bibeault]

Nothing changes except the name of the feature (and perhaps some colors). The name is simply changing from the JForum default of "private messages" so that it's clear that the messages are not completely private from the staff. Look at it as a measure of "truth in advertising".

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Yes, you can still delete your PMs after August 31st. It's just that August 31st is the date when we are changing the name/color scheme.

And the date that if we were so moved we could read PMs. As Fred noted, we've got better things to do so it is rare. An example is if a member complains another member sent spam/profanity/etc. We could look at it to tell off and/or ban the user.

[margaret gillon]

Thank you for the clarification. I always thought that the messages could be read by the staff that was managing the site if there was a need. Can't wait to see the color change.

I probably don't say it enough but I do appreciate all the people who help me here and the volunteer hours that keep things running smoothly on a site this large.

Cheers

[Pradeep bhatt]

In the old CGI software I think moderators had access to PM right ?

[fred rosenberger]

it's fairly safe to assume that (at least some of) the moderators/owners of ANY website have the ability to see anything you writes/store/save there.

I personally have no specific knowledge of the old software, but I would be extremely surprised to learn that those messages couldn't have been read.

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

This is now live

[margaret gillon]

The purple mooseages are very striking. Catchy note at the top. Definitely noticeable that we are not in the normal forums.

Perhaps the purple mooseages page could have a purple moose head , too ?

[Pradeep bhatt]

I don't like the color

I was under impression that PM were not private to JR. So this is not a surprise . Are members using JR as email website ? :P did that make you go public that PM are no longer private ?

[Bear Bibeault]

Pradeep bhatt wrote:I don't like the color

But it got your attention, didn't it? Mission accomplished.

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Pradeep bhatt wrote:Are members using JR as email website ?

I'd certainly hope not! But if anyone is, this should put an end to it.

[Pradeep bhatt]

hey,

please change color to orange.

[Pradeep bhatt]

..but I like your view of beta pages but the font looks small. can we make font bigger ?

[Pradeep bhatt]

Jeanne Boyarsky wrote:

Pradeep bhatt wrote:Are members using JR as email website ?

I'd certainly hope not! But if anyone is, this should put an end to it.

[Henry Wong]

Pradeep bhatt wrote:hey,

please change color to orange.

Probably not... but in my opinion, other possible options are Peach, Pink, Platinum, and Pumpkin ...

Henry

[Bear Bibeault]

Pumpkin mooseages would only be appropriate on Halloween.

[fred rosenberger]

Bear Bibeault wrote:Pumpkin mooseages would only be appropriate on Halloween.

how about pumpkin messy-ges?