Checking on users...

[viciousrumors]

Okay, so I have my forum setup. I'm using RC3 and everything is working out great.

My problem exists as a user has said a few inappropriate comments to one of our younger (16) female members. Shes already spoken with me about it a few times and we're watching what this guy is saying/doing, however, we notice that we're a little limited in the admin powers of what we want to do.

I have a feeling that he is sending this girl comments through the private message system. As you can imagine, thats a big liability if something happens on our part. We dont want to ban him yet as we have no hard proof of what is being said, its just hear-say at this point.

So, I was wondering, is there a way to see what private messages he says from one user to another? Basically using the admin function to read his messages and see if we do in fact have to worry about this guy and what he's doing/saying.

I know this would violate some privacy issues, however, at the same time is limiting the liability for a lawsuit on my end. I'd doing the best I can as an admin to try to stop this guy from sending no-so-cool stuff to a little girl. If this requires a SMF guru to come on to my board to do it, so be it. I will grant those privileges if this breaches some of your security protocols. Either way, if something is happening, I need it to stop ASAP.

Thanks for your help/input
Chris

[xenovanis]

We're not going to tell you how to view your members personal messages, I'm afraid.

Do you have the option to report personal messages enabled? Ask your member to report any inappropriate personal messages. You'll have prove then 

[Jakob Fel]

Also, I believe there is a mod that allows users to ignore PMs from certain users.

[Paul_Pauline]

I believe she could ignore this member by adding his name to the list in her profile > PM settings

[wynnyelle]

I personally feel that an admin has an obligation to monitor PMs that may be crossing the line in this way AND breaking the law in this case, potentially, in the case of a minor. They all exist in plain text on the server, they are a part of YOUR website, same as any content users submit to it, and can be viewed that way. AND I would include a statement about this in your rules to deter people trying to send malicious PMs. But if you don't want to go that far...

I would ask her to quote the PMs to you and if you deem them over the line I would ban this user.

[Jakob Fel]

I believe she could ignore this member by adding his name to the list in her profile > PM settings

I thought so too, but I like to double check things, and for some reason, I didn't think to check the PM settings.

EDIT: Only 20 more posts 'till 1000 posts. Yay!

[wynnyelle]

She's still a minor and some kids can be quite naive and also easily manipulated. Anything that gets posted onto your site is your responsibility and this is why I think it's completely off to just say "It's morally wrong to access your users' PMs for any reason." I myself have never done it, but if I believed something like this was going on on my site I'd do it in a second. If there is criminal activity going on by PM on your own website you CAN be held liable regardless of whether it's posted privately or publicly.

[Matthew K.]

As people here have already stated, we're not going to help anybody read their members PMs. That's why SMF did not build a section in the administration panel to read people's PM's, or make it easier to read them period.

I would suggest having her forward you all of the PM's she receives, or just put him on her ignore list.

I don't see violating someone's privacy being right for any circumstance, especially if there are other ways of resolving such an issue.

[SlammedDime]

I won't reiterate what has already been said about the functionality, however I'll add on some...

In 2.0RC3, there is a bug that will still allow users on an ignore list to send PM's to the person ignoring them, so that option is out...

The best thing you can do is enable the ability to report PM's and ask her to report PM's that inappropriate.

[Night09]

As people here have already stated, we're not going to help anybody read their members PMs. That's why SMF did not build a section in the administration panel to read people's PM's, or make it easier to read them period.

I would suggest having her forward you all of the PM's she receives, or just put him on her ignore list.

I don't see violating someone's privacy being right for any circumstance, especially if there are other ways of resolving such an issue.

http://docs.simplemachines.org/index.php?topic=451.0

Basically the above plus if he has acted in a way that could constitute a crime then the girl in question should report this to the local law enforcment or equivelant.

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

The ability to Report PMs is there just for this reason. It will allow a person receiving inappropriate PMs to forward those PMs to the site admin. Also, this should be quite enough for the site admin, since the admin is not the same as the police.

Also, groovystar - you are wrong IMO. What if you were to offer e-mail services as part of your site, by your logic you would have the right to read those as well - and in all countries I know of, that would be strongly against the law.