Forum Tips And Tricks - Private Messaging

[rfolster]

This posting is part of a series that is designed to help members understand how to use different features of the NSPN website and message forum. If there is ever a question regarding how to use the system or other membership questions, please send an email to membership@nspn.org.

Private messaging or PM is a system that allows a paid member (membership must be current) to send a message to one and up to twenty other paid members, and only those members will see the message. This is a useful tool for a number of situations, including but not limited to the following:

- Organizing a trip where only confirmed participants are provided with location details and/or other specifics

- Commerce transactions where someone looking to purchase or sell an item can make financial arrangements privately

- General private communication between friends (an alternate to email)

- Any number of other reasons two or more members wish to communicate without posting on the public forums

There are a couple of ways to access the messenger system. At the very top of the forum is a black bar, with four items located towards the right corner. The left-most item in this group is an open envelope, and may resemble an email icon. This is the primary access to the messenger system, and it may have a number in a red circle next to it. If it does, that means you have messages waiting to be read. From here, you can see a list of your most recent conversations as well as start a new one.

When you start a new conversation, select one member in the Recipient's Name window. You must use the member's screen name only, as you can not search by a first or last name. As you type, a list of possible matches will appear, and select the one you want to send the message to. In the Other Recipients window, you can add additional members to the conversation, again using screen names. It does not matter who the first recipient is from the other recipients, as every person will receive the same message and can participate in the conversation the same way.

Once you have sent a message, you can go back into it and see a list of the participants towards the upper left. It will tell you when each participant had read the conversation, as well as allow you to block a participant if you no longer want them to participate in the conversation. Directly below that section is an area that allows you to "invite" additional participants, which just means that they get added to the conversation.

Another option to sending a private message is when viewing a member's profile. To the right of the member's screen name is a button Send Me A Message which will also bring you to the private message screen. As a final reminder, both the sender and any participants MUST be "Paid" members, as Guests can not use the PM system.

I hope this information is helpful for members to better understand how to use the many features of our website and message forum. Please do not post questions or comments here, but instead send them to membership@nspn.org.....or you can always PM me!