Private Message Quotas

[BigC]

If a user has exceeded their stored private messages quota such that they cannot accept further messages until they clear some space (e.g. a new user who is yet to post to the Forum and therefore has not yet "earned" any quota, but it could be any user with a full mailbox):

1. are they immediately notified of this situation?
2. why is a sender of a PM to that "quota bound" user (e.g. when attempting to reply to a PM from that user) NOT advised of this situation until they try to submit the PM? (If senders were advised as soon as they attempted to create a reply to a PM from a "quota bound" user, or when the user name of the latter was entered into the recipient's field of a new PM, this would save the sender from wasting their time and effort drafting a PM that cannot be sent?)

 

[Joe4]

are they immediately notified of this situation?

I don't think so.

why is a sender of a pm to that "quota bound" user (e.g. When attempting to reply to a pm from that user) not advised of this situation until they try to submit the pm? (if senders were advised as soon as they attempted to create a reply to a pm from a "quota bound" user, or when the user name of the latter was entered into the recipient's field of a new pm, this would save the sender from wasting their time and effort drafting a pm that cannot be sent?)

That is the way the vBulletins software works (this is not a "homegrown" forum platform - we use vBulletin).
But I can understand why it works the way it does. Until you have sent the PM, there is no connection to the other user. You can type up a PM first, before you even select who you send it to. You could also change who it is going to before clicking "Send". And, the person you are sending it to could receive more PMs, or delete the ones that they currently have in the time it takes you to complete your PM and click "Send". So it is a "moving target", and the determination really cannot be made with any certainty until you try to send it, as things can change in the meantime.

It is much like most email systems - if someone is out of the office at my job, I don't get notified until AFTER I try to send them something.

 

[BigC]

Hi Joe & thanks for the explanations.

I accept the practicalities of second one, but not the first.

I've had a number of PMs from first time users (at various times in regard to different threads I've started or contributed to) who are not aware that they have no PM quota, and because of this limitation I am hamstrung in responding to them (even to advise them to post to the Forum to earn a quota). Surely it makes sense for the bulletin software to notify the user when they try to create their very first PM if they have no quota and can only get one by submitting, say two, posts.

 

[Joe4]

I understand the frustration, but I don't think it can do what you want without customization. Unfortunately, customizations have caused major issues in the past, as in making upgrades crash and having the board out of service for a while. So the Admins try to avoid doing customizations whenever possible.

 

[BigC]

The simple solution seems to be for the Admin's not ask the bulletin software provider for a customisation but to suggest an improvement to be released in a future general upgrade - for the current situation (where a user can send a PM but cannot receive a reply, yet they are not aware of this) is just dumb.

 

[Joe4]

The simple solution seems to be for the Admin's not ask the bulletin software provider for a customisation but to suggest an improvement to be released in a future general upgrade - for the current situation (where a user can send a PM but cannot receive a reply, yet they are not aware of this) is just dumb.

Since this seems to be an important issue to you, feel free to reach out to them and do that.

 

[BigC]

Since this seems to be an important issue to you, feel free to reach out to them and do that.

I thought posting to this Forum would achieve that! Is there a separate place/process to do this (if so, it's not obvious!)

 

[Joe4]

We are just customers of the vBulletin software.
You would have to post suggested updates to vBulletin forum software to the vBulletin website (https://www.vbulletin.com).
It looks like they have their user forums on that site too.

 

[BigC]

Not helpful at all.
I am a "customer" of MrExcel.com, not vBulletin, so it's the former I'm providing my feedback to via this Forum. Surely it is now up to MrExcel.com to provide feedback to vBulletin, as the latter's customer, about the product they're using?

 

[Joe4]

I will pass your sentiments along to the Admins, and they can determine if it is worth pursuing.