MN and access to our PMs

[WichBitchHarpyTerfThatsMe]

I've been told today that admins at a fairly junior level in MN have access to our PMs. I'm not certain whether or not it is true but as a precaution I've deleted all of mine.

Given the recent leaks with the MF FB members and the concerns about the past behaviour of certain MN staff I don't think we can be too careful.

I know that in relation to meeting up for WPUK meetings I shared my phone number and geographical whereabouts with some other MN members via PMs so I've deleted those messages as a precaution. All the MN women I met up with were lovely btw and not narcissistic psychopaths so am pretty sure they are trustworthy, MN staff on the other hand - I don't know.

They certainly used to have access to all PM's - it's a legit strategy for working out if someone is PBP or trolling. But they tightened things because of GDPR so not so sure now.
Certainly though, deleting messages with things like your phone number seems a good idea on any platform at this stage.

I believe that after the internet thing @MNHQ have tightened up who has access to what - it's still a matter of whether or not you trust those who do have access though.

I deleted the ones in my outbox but I can’t know whether or not the recipients deleted them from their inboxes.

if they have access to them they probably have access to see deleted ones.

I don't know Tells, you may well be right but right now I'm feeling a teeny weeny bit paranoid.

I've added my full name to many letters and petitions re the self-ID stuff but my name isn't that identifying whereas specific info like phone numbers etc is.

Thanks for the reminder. I haven’t PM’d anything identifying to anyone but there was some pretty personal stuff in there I’d rather no one saw. Is there a deleted folder that needs emptying as well?

Wasn't this one of the things that got tightened following the intern debacle? It's a good idea not to keep identifying stuff lurking in there anyway - I try to remember to have a regular clear out of messages, so this is a timely reminder to do some online housekeeping

I just cleared out my PM folders. There were a few in there that said 'this message has been removed as user request'

I want to know how to do that. There's a thread in site stuff.

I have 2 received and 2 sent removed. They were innocuous- the 2 sent were just some one being kind and my replies were just thanks. No personal details in any of them.

Lass, do you mean that two messages you sent yourself have been removed? Did you ask for them to be deleted or did it just happen?

Just looked again. There are actually 5 in total or rather 10.

I received 2 very kind pms from a poster who i think has either gone or may have been. I replied to both. Her messages to me and my replies have gone with that deletion message. In this case the initial pm was sent to me.

The others were 3 pms from someone in 2017 who is either long gone or name changed- again the messages she sent me have gone and my replies.

I DID NOT ASK FOR THE MESSAGES I SENT TO BE REMOVED

Pencils - comment below is from the thread in Site stuff. This is quite worrying. Someone is reading and deleting pms without either the senders or the recipients knowing or asking.

GertieMotherwell

I had loads, as did the poster I was PMing.
Neither of us requested it.

I got the same message with two I sent and the subsequent replies to me in my inbox. This is scary.

I'm going to email mnhq and ask

It is scary. I suggest you post on the Site thread as well.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/site_stuff/3288763-Private-Messages-Deleted

I clear out my PMs quite regularly. No particular reason - certainly nothing GC-related - I do it everywhere and for everything, including my emails. Just an obsessive housekeeper.

Anyway.

I did the usual clear out here once and got a PM from someone I'd been talking to - they were worried in case I'd taken offence or something. They mentioned something about a weird looking message.

Could that be it? The person at the other end of the PM deleting it?

Is it possible that PMs are purged when a user asks for their account (including their posting history) to be deleted?

But if deleting messages in one's own box, whether inbox or sent automatically deleted them in the other party's box surely we would have noticed this before now?

I don't send or receive that many so no particular need to clear them out.

Is it possible that PMs are purged when a user asks for their account (including their posting history) to be deleted?

According to the thread on Site it is happening where both posters are active and neither have deleted.

Weird. This phenomenon just happened to me. Now, perhaps the MNer I was conversing with deleted it all. Which is clearly fine if so, but it was brief messages with no personal detail so it seems unlikely? If she didn't delete them, I hope she saw my most recent message from just a few minutes ago before they went poof.

I suspect/hope this phenomenon is some random tech issue. It's not just happening when posters PM about GC issues is it?

None of my pms were about gender critical issues.

Oh phew. Thanks, Lass.

It never does any harm to be careful but I'm inclined to think that this is more cock-up than conspiracy.

There seem to have been all sorts of strangeness with the MN software recently. It wouldn't surprise me if these messages are disappearing without any human consciously deleting them.

Of course, that wouldn't be very satisfactory either ...

I lost PMs a couple of months ago and thought that my inbox only had capacity to take a certain number?

I’m quite concerned because people have sent me sensitive personal information.

I had no more than 10 sent and 10 received. 6 of the messages which disappeared were from 2017 but 4 of them were from May 2018 with messages before and after that date still there.