Inappropriate Private Message

[Laura F.]

Jack -

What I've recommended to people internally here at NI is to put some text in a macro that they can use to reply to these inquries.  The text I came up with is below, feel free to take it and make it your own:

Hello [Insert Name Here],

In order to receive the best support on the NI Discussion Forums, please post your question publicly on the board that matches the products you are using.  This allows your question to be viewed by forum members worldwide, allowing users with the most expertise in this area to assist you.  In addition, once your issue is resolved, forum users with the same issue in the future can benefit from your experience.

To start a new thread on the NI Forums, navigate to the correct product board on forums.ni.com and click the "New Message" button.  You will be directed through a search to view possible solutions.  If you do not find a solution, you can proceed to post your question on that board.

Regards,

[Insert Your Name Here]

If they continue to reply, you can always add them to your blocked list.

tst - if you start your private message in the private message inbox you can add multiple forum user names with a comma between.  I believe that should allow you to send a message to multiple people.  I don't see a way for one to "Reply to All" though.

Thanks,

Laura

[Ray.R]

Is it possible to have a larger icon for when we receive mail? I mean PM..

[JackDunaway]

Ray - I suggested a widget on your profile page. From what I can tell, the "Friends" list is virtually useless for private messaging, but it's really useful as a repository for my "required reading" authors. It would be helpful to have a link to the "friends" list from a widget on my profile page, rather than being another link down from the small envelope icon.

If this were on my profile page, I would not want the "Friends" list to be public. (And the name "Contacts" would be more appropriate. On this platform, "Friending" is an open-loop process and is thereby a misnomer.)

[Ray.R]

I like your suggestion about a widget.

Fortunately, I have been spared PM's from people asking for help. 

I guess the top hitters get the added benefit from their popularity 😉

[JackDunaway]

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@Laura F. wrote:

Jack -

What I've recommended to people internally here at NI is to put some text in a macro that they can use to reply to these inquries.  The text I came up with is below, feel free to take it and make it your own:

Hello [Insert Name Here],

In order to receive the best support on the NI Discussion Forums, please post your question publicly on the board that matches the products you are using.  This allows your question to be viewed by forum members worldwide, allowing users with the most expertise in this area to assist you.  In addition, once your issue is resolved, forum users with the same issue in the future can benefit from your experience.

To start a new thread on the NI Forums, navigate to the correct product board on forums.ni.com and click the "New Message" button.  You will be directed through a search to view possible solutions.  If you do not find a solution, you can proceed to post your question on that board.

Regards,

[Insert Your Name Here]

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I used this text verbatim to reply to a PM I got today requesting help - the person responded well, and the question is now on the public forums. 

[Ray.R]

I just got one from Fakhri.  Probaly sent it to everyone...  😉

I did the same.  Sent the message Laura composed.

I hope people are not going to start abusing PM's in such a manner. 

That's not the intent of having PM's.

[Laura F.]

Glad to hear that my text worked!

Also - I'll check out the suggestion about adding a widget to your profile page, it may be an available feature.  If not, I'll suggest it and I will also look into a larger icon.

Thanks,

Laura

[Laura F.]

It appears adding a widget to the profile page is possible, so this should be enabled soon.

Thanks,

Laura

[JackDunaway]

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@Laura F. wrote:

It appears adding a widget to the profile page is possible, so this should be enabled soon.

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Thanks, Laura, looks like this went live tonight - I like the visibility and location of the widget.

For those who do not want to see this widget: there's a setting under "My Settings >> Preferences >> Home Page >> Show private messages that have been read". This defaults to ON, and if you turn it OFF the widget will not show if you have no unread messages. Presumably, the widget also will not show if you have PM's turned off.

Again, thanks for improving usability of PMs!

[Laura F.]

Thanks for noticing it so quickly!