MyBB Ideas

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PM attachment

75 votes

Submitted by monky91, 22nd February 2007, 3:12:37 PM

Allow members to attach files when sending PM

13 Comments

  1. agreed yes very nice idea

    HASANN, 22nd February 2007, 3:14:42 PM

  2. I wouldn't like this unless there's an option to approve attachments. What if people were sending illegal files using this private medium?

    DennisTT, 22nd February 2007, 7:03:16 PM

  3. I agree with DennisTT.

    This would probably be abused.. IMHO

    FirefoxWiz, 22nd February 2007, 7:21:38 PM

  4. Will definitely be abused by some people. If you have a private file you want to share, use an instant messenger like MSN or Skype.

    DrPoodle, 23rd February 2007, 12:08:33 AM

  5. What if people are sending links to kiddy pr0n via PMs on your board RIGHT NOW?? OMFG, disable your PMs right away cuz they can be abused! What if people are posting using hidden codes to trade snuff films right out in the open on your forum RIGHT NOW? O NOES, CLOSE YOUR BOARD!

    What if, what if, what if... I'm sorry, but "it might be abused" is a cheap cop-out. Personally, I don't care if PMs have attachments or not, but at least have a *reason* please.

    Galen, 23rd February 2007, 12:35:11 AM

  6. WELL I WOULD LIKE KIDDY PR0N SENT TO ME VIA PM.

    Just kidding.

    Galen, you just need to chill out. Attachments on PM's are much more susceptible to abuse because they can be viruses which could not be monitored by the staff hence 'Private' in 'Private Messages'. Sure people could report it, but the damage is already done once it's downloaded. Not to mention hosts will not add virus scanners to prevent this. Most plans are too cheap for the hosts to give a crap about it.

    Tikitiki, 23rd February 2007, 2:13:33 AM

  7. I'm not un-chilled, Tiki. I'm just saying... Seems like a flimsy reason not to add something. Your example about viruses is a better reason, as that was not the kind of "abuse" that was mentioned before. Someone specifically mentioned things like illegal porn. Besides the fact that PMs could be used for that with or without attachments, there's also the consideration that software developers can't be concerned with how their product might be used for bad things or you guys'll go nuts. How do you know Pedos-R-Us isn't running a MyBB pr0n site out of Thailand right now? If you're gonna start down the path of how software (or a particular feature) *might* be used for evil, you're gonna need prozac pretty soon :)

    Anyway, I didn't mean to come across as being harsh. I'm not trying to bust balls, just expressing that I don't think the reasons given are good reasons for not including this feature. That's all. No heat intended.

    Galen, 23rd February 2007, 4:25:28 AM

  8. If kiddie porn is being sent via PM...the file is ON YOUR SERVER and you can be held responsible for this. If it's posted in a thread it's public and usually reported and quickly removed. The last thing a sys admin needs is kiddie porn or warez in their file systems without knowing it.

    I am very much against this being in the core of mybb and I do believe a plugin already exists.

    Files uploaded to threads serve a general purpose of sharing with the community. A PM file exchange will NOT benefit the community and would/could be abused.

    labrocca, 23rd February 2007, 4:42:27 AM

  9. You think links in PMs aren't gonna carry some weight against the webmaster? That's possible right now.

    I reiterate: How a feature is used (or misused) is not the concern of the developers. There are plenty of reasons for the developers to include or not include any particular feature, but the consideration of how it might be abused should not be one of them. That's the concern of the webmaster, not the devs.

    I think I need to say again that I don't particularly care if this feature is included or not. If it was, I'd restrict it to admins (but it WOULD be useful to admins). I'm not trying to pimp out the idea of this feature. If the devs don't want to include it, that's cool, but the only reasons I've seen given so far are reasons that are not development related.

    Galen, 23rd February 2007, 12:10:22 PM

  10. The fact still remains that if people want to share files privately, they can do so through an IM. I don't want my server becoming a host for private files which only two people out of all my users can access! Neither would most webmasters. As labrocca pointed out, if the file is illegal and it is found on your server, your hosting company will terminate your account and you may also be prosecuted.

    DrPoodle, 23rd February 2007, 3:43:00 PM

  11. Galen said:
    > How a feature is used (or misused) is not the concern of the developers.

    If you say that we should not be concerned about the use or misuse of the posting feature, why do you think we included a "post flooding" restriction in the forum package?

    Back on topic,

    I'm just thinking of this as if it were implemented on my forum. Why should the admin store a file which is not accessible by the general public, and without the consent of the admin. I'm not sure how you would feel if you had no idea what files were being invisibly uploaded, but for me I would want to know exactly what it is.

    DennisTT, 23rd February 2007, 6:22:53 PM

  12. Well, I'm probably thinking of this from the perspective of someone who uses the PM Admin plugin, lol. So, yeah, I might be biased there cuz nobody's sharing anything secretly on my forum anyway. If admins *don't* want to monitor PMs, then yeah, I can definately see your point.

    Galen, 23rd February 2007, 9:02:16 PM

  13. If I want to share files with staff I do so in the staff area which is restricted from regular members. That's commonplace to have a hidden staff area. Also links in a PM would not give the site owner any legal liability. Files however very much would do so.

    I am not saying this is an incredibly bad idea. It's something that shouldn't be difficult to implement. However it's no where near the top of the list for my personal requests to have additions to mybb. It's rather low actually.

    And Galen..I expressed my concern about illegal files as a webmaster not as a mybb developer. Developers are asking for comments here from the webmasters.

    labrocca, 24th February 2007, 3:22:37 AM

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