PMs get lost

[MaNiAc LRSC]

I reported an error, that PMs, which are sent by the conversation starter, get lost, if the recipient has deleted his copy. The whole thing happens without notification, the only hint is, that when viewing the PM, a small text "has left convesation" is shown below the recipient's name.
Because of that "Feature" dozens of people complain that PMs get lost on my Forum, which is completely inacceptable.

The answer of IPB Support is as follows:

This is intended because he started the conversation.

A conversation can have an unlimited number of participants - if one user (let's call him Bob) sends another user (let's call him Fred) a conversation, Bob is stored as the starter of that conversation.

If Fred then deletes the conversation from his messenger, or Bob removes him from the conversation, Fred is logged as having left the conversation (and this is indicated correctly on your site). Bob can now invite more people if he wants, or also delete the conversation.

If however, Bob deletes the conversation from his messenger, it is considered locked, and Fred (nor any other participants) cannot reply.

So it's part of the "feature", that if Bob keeps on sending PMs if Fred has delteted his part of the conversation, the messages will never reach Fred.
Nobody in my forums has ever noticed this small hint below the recipients name. They are all used to the big red cross, which only comes up when the topic starter has deleted the conversation.

Please change how this "Feature" works, that is so BAD!

[TCWT]

+1

[Biker.GA]

I have to agree with this as well. Deleting a message should not remove an individual from a conversation, nor should it have an adverse impact on replies. There are many reasons why someone would want to delete private messages, and the system should not remove someone from a conversation just because of a message deletion.

There are times when I think this mad rush to embrace social networking isn't well thought out. This is one of those times.

[bfarber]

I have to agree with this as well. Deleting a message should not remove an individual from a conversation, nor should it have an adverse impact on replies. There are many reasons why someone would want to delete private messages, and the system should not remove someone from a conversation just because of a message deletion.

There are times when I think this mad rush to embrace social networking isn't well thought out. This is one of those times.

Quite to the contrary, the personal conversation system is a heavily evolved system from our demo site long before 3.0 was released. We put 3.0 on a demo site for all our customers to try out before it was released, and the personal conversations system was heavily heavily changed throughout that process before 3.0 was released, based on feedback.

How it works now was a compromise between the many different issues and scenarios people brought up in that time. While you may not agree with how it presently works, and that's fine, to say it wasn't well thought it couldn't be further from the truth. :)

[MaNiAc LRSC]

Although there was a long developing phase, it doesn't mean that the feature is perfect.
There are other issues with the PM system which could be made better, but one thing should never happen: That PMs get lost.

And why do the people don't understand, that their PMs get lost? That's why:
You have implemented two mechanisms for telling people, that the conversation partner won't get their reply depending who has deleted the conversation:
1. The conversation starter has deleted the conversation. A fat big red cross markes this message and if someone of the recipients tries to reply, an error message comes up. (by the way: Many users did't understand what that cross means...they thought the message is somehow damaged)
2. The recipient deletes the conversation. Now nothing but a little tiny text tells the conversation starter, that his conversation partner has left the conversation and no red cross is shown and no error message comes up. The message goes straight to the digital nirwana...

The users are accustomed to the big fat warning of use case 1 if replying is not possible. The minimal one in use case 2 is hardly noticed.

Additionally, i found it always annoying that i couldn't reply to a conversation my conversation partner has deleted.

That's why it should be like he said:

Deleting a message should not remove an individual from a conversation, nor should it have an adverse impact on replies.

-> So there must be a different handling:
- if someone is excluded from a conversation (he gets no replies anymore)
- if he has deleted his part (he gets all the new replies)

[T3XT3]

Well at least there should be some kind of notification, when the starter tries to resume a deleted conversation: "The recipient has left conversation - send this PM as a new conversation? yes / no"

That has to be - you can't let people send anything when it will never reach the destination! (w00t)

[gpbneil]

Had a number of people complain that PMs/Conversations where going missing.
I guess I've found the reason.

The majority of Conversations are generally between 2 people - as a suggestion, would it be possible to only allow people to leave if there are more than two in the conversation?

[Carter.S]

I'd have to agree with the rest here. If someone leaves the conversation and someone attempts to reply, it should prompt saying this is the case and offer to create a new conversation.

I have had several complaints from members throughout 3.x history where people did this and had no idea that is how it worked.