So there’s been a big issue with the Episode Forums recently viewing people’s private messages. And since we run on the same software, it’s been affecting how people see and interact with these forums, too. So I think it’s about time I make it clear what can and can’t happen on Discourse forums in general.
This information applies to every single forum that runs on Discourse, as there are no settings to turn it off or change it in any way. That means it’s true of Episode, Wattpad, WaniKani, Discourse Meta and all other forums that basically have the same format as this one.
So I’m going to list all of the questions I’ve been asked the most frequently over the past few months and give you an honest answer.
Who Can See My Private Messages?
As admin, I am the only person who can access every single part of this site.
That means mods can’t see your PMs on a regular basis. There is one exception to that rule: when a message has been flagged, the mod who clicks on the flag has access to the PM. As soon as they’ve made a decision (ignored or accepted the flag), they no longer have access to the PM anymore.
How can admins see the PMs? Well, for over 6 months, I thought that the only way was to get the specific URL. However, last night, I grew concerned over the number of people saying that they’ve had their privacy violated by the Episode Forums staff members, so I decided to hunt to see if there was another way.
This may affect traffic on these forums, but I’m not in the habit of lying to you, so I would rather be honest with you and hope you can trust me.
I have discovered that admins can see private messages if they dig into your profile enough. I don’t think I should be able to see your private conversations, so it’s something I’m going to be taking up with Discourse ASAP, but other admins have also brought up the concern in the past and it doesn’t seem like the staff at Discourse have any intentions of changing that.
But I am never going to make anyone else an administrator on this forum. My name is associated with this brand and no one else’s, so I am not going to give anyone the power, not even the Head of Moderation, @ChaoticDeluge. I think it would be completely wrong to do that. (Without asking consent from the users).
Apart from me, though? No one else should be able to see your PMs unless someone in the chat prompted them to review a message. Full stop. End of story.
Can You See a PM if I @ You?
No. Patently no. There is absolutely no way to do this. No setting. Nothing. You simply don’t get a notification if someone @s you in a PM you’re not part of. Even I – the admin – have to go on a hunt to get your information, so anyone who said they got invited into the PM by you @ing them is lying to you.
Will I Get in Trouble for Something I Said in a PM?
Not unless someone flags you. I’m not here to catch you out. I want this place to succeed, so I’m not going to be running around in the PMs looking for violations! Heck, I’m not going to be running around the PMs looking for anything. It’s a complete violation of your privacy and it will do nothing but make me and these forums fail.
If you want to swear and trash-talk me, you’re free to do so. If you want to have adult roleplays or send NSFW art, be my guest. If you reveal some big secret in PMs, I’m not going to know about it because I’m not going looking for any information.
Even forum violations! I’m not going to be punishing anyone for hate speech or anything like that in the PMs. It’s none of my damn business!
The only time this changes is if a member of the PM decides to get the staff involved by telling us what happened or flagging a post. Other than that? I’m never going to get involved with your PM affairs in any way.
That’s all the questions I can think of! Please leave any questions you have down below.
I’m so sorry that I didn’t tell you about this admin ability to view messages until now. I didn’t know! I always knew that I could access everything on this website via URL (there needs to be someone like that just in case there are serious safety concerns), but I had no clue how it really worked.
I hope you can trust me and we can keep moving forward.
