Option to opt-out of private messaging as default

[Saenger]

At the moment I can't opt out of private messaging in the projects, so anyone can bother me with spam, threats or whatever.

Nobody opted in to allow other crunchers to send him/her a pm, so per definition every single pm is a spam (in the valid, strict way of voluntary opt-in as the definition of non-spam, possible opt-out is not a valid definition of non-spam).

As this feature was implemented without explicit consent of the participants, nobody has opted in, so everybody has opted out.

Unfortunately it's not even possible to opt out at all, that's a strict nono, it has to be changed asap. The default setting for this option has to be set to "Private Messages Wanted - No", and only to be changed in a consenting manner by the participant.

I've started a thread for the discussion of this issue in the forum: http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dev/forum_thread.php?id=1862

[Rytis]

There is already an option to turn off email notifications for PMs (since [12813]).

[Saenger]

Is it set to default NO? At least for all participants who had no chance to choose (i.e. all joined before just now) it has to be imho.

[ShaiHulud]

I fully support Saengers request!

Default should be No!

[Zwitschi]

The same by me!

Please set Default to NO.

[anonymous]

Critical? Come on, be serious...

[Saenger]

It was abused for mass spamming already, so yes, it's critical.

[Saenger]

As a prove here's one example of a spam by one participant: ​http://www.malariacontrol.net/forum_thread.php?id=25&nowrap=true#3000

[anonymous]

Such issues would be resolved by Trac/216 (messaging limits)

[gravitysmith]

I have recently had my own experience with an unwanted PM. I detailed my thoughts in the forum at http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dev/forum_thread.php?id=1862&#11552 along with a few reasons why I see it beneficial to set PM as an option.

To summarize a couple of quick points, some participants (such as myself) are not interested in the social networking aspects introduced by PM. In addition to minimizing my own frustrations at receiving unwanted messages, an opt-in (or opt-out) choice would maximize project resources by eliminating messages that aren't going to be read anyhow. Furthermore, if a PM choice is provided, then the person sending a PM could at least be informed that the recipient has no intention of reading their message. From a sender's point of view, I imagine this would be much better than not getting a response and never knowing if the message was read or just lost in a sea of unwanted messages. The above linked post has more detailed explanation of these thoughts.

Because BOINC (as I understand it) is primarily about distributed computing and less about social networking, I believe the availability of PM should be provided as an opt-in choice. To do otherwise, risks losing participants by clouding the main distributed-computing objectives with the hassles of social networking stuff.

[FluffyChicken]

One problem with BOINC and the forums is you are automatically setup with fourm access. These options, like do you want to activate forum access, email, newsletter opt-in/outs, PM notification opt-out (yes I prefer opt-out to opt-in but this is only practicle if you can opt-in/out of the forum itself) [i]should all be setup on account creation and not as some after thought on a remote website preference most people do not know of. These setting should also be adjustable from within boincmanager itself.

[N/A]

No action on this ticket.

Unwanted PMs are still being aimed at users. This needs to be addressed with an opt-in option for all existing users.

As more projects are implementing the broken PM code, it will become a bigger PR problem.

[Saenger]

Nothing seems do be done, now even a spammer friendly search function for teamless crunchers is implemented in Seti. They don't have to sort through lists any more but get their addresses delivered free.

I begin to think spamming is a feature for the devs, while it's a bug for the crunchers.

[Saenger]

Suggestions:

1) Make pm something to opt-in, it has no immediate connection to the scientific project you join with creating an account, it's something different, a social network component. It should be opted in separately and voluntarily.

2) Ban known spammers from the boards and the pm-system. Should be possible as two options imho, i.e. disable pm while ordinary posting is still possible.

3) Restrict the pm per account to something like 5-10 per day (and that's recipients). The numbers from ticket #216 are imho far too high.

4) Make it clear in the forum rules that any advertisement via pm is considered spam and will be "rewarded" accordingly. I believe the standard rules are made in Berkeley with the server software package.

[Ageless]

Reassigning to David.

[davea]

The default for PM email notification has been changed to off.