Private Conversations

[Vashnik]

Absolutely. The point would be that only admins and mods (or whoever had permission) could view conversations and only those conversations that had been reported by a user.

I like that idea. It allows Admins/Mods to investigate a report, without "invading" privacy. Like a search warrant, granted by users to the staff.

Also, I was thinking that perhaps the "Participants" could be expandable/collapsible in a sidebar instead of just put off to the side. Not sure if that's what the intended message was in the screenshot of the "conversation" preview or not.

[Penguinexpert1]

What about adding a feature where someone can report a conversation and that allows admins/mods (configurable via permissions) to see the content of just the reported conversation?

would it error out if an admin/mod tried to view a private conversation that wasn't referred in a report?

Absolutely. The point would be that only admins and mods (or whoever had permission) could view conversations and only those conversations that had been reported by a user.

that'd probably suffice while keeping the conversations private most of the time.

There is already a plugin for 1.8.x that already does this, but I do see your point for 2.0.

[weBex]

This is a fantastic development, but I think it looks bloated.

Maybe I'm just too use to the Facebook conversations, and I'm not asking MyBB to completely rip them off. But at a quick peak, I don't fully gather who read what message last.

When I last write a message on Facebook group conversations, it'll stamp the names of who read that message. I can see it quickly and move on.

In this setup, I have to look at each ID first. I just don't find this the most optimized design for user accessibility.

[kawaii]

I'm sorry but did everyone in this thread completely forget that an administrator can simply go into the database and read PMs from there without even needing a plugin?

[Devilshakerz]

I'm sorry but did everyone in this thread completely forget that an administrator can simply go into the database and read PMs from there without even needing a plugin?

Creating an interface for that would make it even more inviting for forum staff. We are against such practices.

[Euan T]

This is a fantastic development, but I think it looks bloated.

Maybe I'm just too use to the Facebook conversations, and I'm not asking MyBB to completely rip them off. But at a quick peak, I don't fully gather who read what message last.

When I last write a message on Facebook group conversations, it'll stamp the names of who read that message. I can see it quickly and move on.

In this setup, I have to look at each ID first. I just don't find this the most optimized design for user accessibility.

Yeah, the design needs some work (though I'd hardly call it bloated as such ). You can actually see that Justin recognises that fact in the screenshot. Our approach to implementing features thus far has been to get an MVP ("Minimum Viable Product") working in order to get an Alpha out of the door this year. We're not completely obsessing over layout and design right now, just making sure that it all works in terms of functionality.

My vision is to have a small break below messages, where either avatars or usernames can fit to show where particular uses have read up to. This should make it more clear ho's read what.

[Vashnik]

I'm sorry but did everyone in this thread completely forget that an administrator can simply go into the database and read PMs from there without even needing a plugin?

Nobody forgot about it. The discussion for an interface where staff can read a conversation was more or less about matching these conditions:

• only if a user has reported the conversation
  
• only that conversation could be peeked at by a staff member

And that was only if an interface would be implemented where staff could read someone's private conversation.

What you're talking about falls on the ethics of those who have access, both legal and illegal, to the database and the ethical use of a database management tool for which it provides the interface to display that information. Keep in mind that not ALL administrators will have read access for the database. MyBB currently does not provide that access in the core software, so tools like phpMyAdmin or Navicat MySQL must be used for the read access you're talking about.

[Will P]

I'm sorry but did everyone in this thread completely forget that an administrator can simply go into the database and read PMs from there without even needing a plugin?

There's a difference between storing your gold in a vault with an access code of 1234 and leaving the door open and signposting which way to go.

While it's possible in both scenarios to get to the gold, one encourages it, the other doesn't. MyBB does not want to encourage the practice of reading PMs.

[Nasyr]

Funnily enough this is getting added. A forum I use this owned by a friend already has this in 1.8 lol.

[Josh H.]

Not sure what's so funny about it. We've discussed it multiple times before and decided it was just too big of a change for us to officially support with 1.8, and so it was put in the 2.0 plans. It's an overdue change, but nonetheless the update that's been needed.