How do I block all Private Messages?

[SoupDragon]

is there an option to do that?

Nope.

Can you describe the circumstances under which you'd use it? We might be able to suggest something.

For the same reason I chose to opt out of receiving CAT messages. if we could opt out of those, why can't we opt out of receiving PMs?

I agree that people should be able to opt out.

How do you know when you have recieved one?

[antisocial old toad]

I suppose that's fair enough really.

You do know that you have just invited a deluge, don't you, Soupy?

just ignore it?

Hehehe Habbibu... Sorry Soupy.

As an aside, completely unrelated to anything here, where is the "red block icon" as mentioned in the instructions?

It's a sort of Talk To The Hand icon next to the message.

The "red block" thing appears when you get a message from someone. For example if I sent you one, there is a small red icon that appears next to my name in teh inbox. If you hover over it, it says "block messages from xxxx"

But I think you can only block people after they have sent you a message

Oh, I see. I worried it was some secret political statement/hark back to <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=haal9000.com/dvd2009/images/red%2520hand%2520gang.jpg&imgrefurl=haal9000.com/dvd2009/09-07-21.htm&usg=__5uErJApP5sEHNSsNTMTpge1K4x4=&h=500&w=355&sz=37&hl=en&start=0&sig2=_E8twsoJ2uHwcqbjaF6X8Q&zoom=1&tbnid=M4qtfEDkgGVfdM:&tbnh=130&tbnw=92&ei=4giZTN_VF8jKONbMvYAN&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dred%2Bhand%2Bgang%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D575%26tbs%3Disch:1%26prmd%3Div&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=625&vpy=213&dur=195&hovh=267&hovw=189&tx=97&ty=143&oei=4giZTN_VF8jKONbMvYAN&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:11,s:0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">70's kids TV

Soup, is just not clicking "Inbox" not an option? There is already an option to turn off the email notifications, so if you don't click "Inbox" you've effectively opted out of Private Messaging no?

Ignoring the in box is not remotely the same as opting out.

And there's no Block Poster option on my iPad, just an empty square.

Okay, well, currently there is no way of "opting out" past just not opening the inbox I'm afraid. We're not ruling it out, but in order to deliver something that suits as many people as possible it would be helpful to hear what the concerns are. The thing about opting out of CAT was that you might not want MN related messages sent to your email account, particularly if you used an employer's email system for example. However, with PM, that's not an issue because you can turn off the email notifications if you wish.

As always, we're keen to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for the info on the iPad issue. My iPad's battery is flat right now but as soon as it's back alive I'll check it out.

I think a definite opt out option should be looked into.

I was saying to someone earlier, that if you post on a thread and someone disagrees with what you are saying, PM is an open invitation to get hounded off the thread. And even though you can block the person, you have to read what they have written first !

I know you can choose not to go into the inbox, but its unlikely you'd do that if you knew there were messages in there [curious cat emoticon]

Maybe an easy opt in/opt out option would help, so you could change your setting quickly if you wanted to talk to someone specific via PM, then 'close the door on it' once you're finished.

That didn't make a lot of sense did it!?

you're assuming that lots of people will msg you..

If someone tried to send you a message and you'd "opted out", what would you want them to see? Or put another way, would someone trying to send you a message be told that you'd opted out?

SD, on my iPad the red hand icon (block sender) is shown next to the sender's name when reading the message. It's definitely not there on yours?

Just a simple message to say you'd opted out would suffice.

I'm just thinking that if you messaged someone, and they had opted out, you could give them a shout out thread to say you want to talk, they could turn on their PM, talk, then switch back to private?

For example, I was trying to get hold of SGB the other day, but had loads of other interfering sods people coming on and having a go at me. PM would've given me the chance to talk to her privately, so I am all for it. But we do need an option to opt out I think. Otherwise its a bit of an invasion of privacy, IMO.

if i opted out of PM and someone tried to PM me i would just want something simple like, this poster is set up for PM.

Why do you have to read a message in order to block the sender? if, for example, you know the sender will have sent you something upsetting due to a disagreement on a thread, why should you have to read it in order to block them?

Whilst I think the PM feature is a good idea (even though I don't want it IYSWIM!) I don't think its been thought through fully.

I blocked CATS because I don't want to be contacted off board and the CAT system meant that people knew I'd chosen not to receive them. If someone's opted out of receiving PMs, a simple "that poster has chosen not to receive PMs" would suffice.

I'm not assuming lots of people will message me, I simply want the same level of "opt out" I had before.