Admins reading PMs??

[salveregina]

Hi,

I know this may sound like a completely obnoxious first post - believe me, it is not meant to be.

I am seeking information only.

I have heard that Administrators using SFM software have the ability to read the PMs of their members.

1. Can somebody please tell me if that is the truth or just a bunch of hooey?

2.  If they can, is it standard on the Admin Control Panel or would they have to install a mod/modhack?

Thanks.

[karlbenson]

There is no feature in SMF for admins to read users pms and there is NOT a mod/hack for it either.  SMF afaik are against such a feature as they believe admins/mods don't have the right to view anyones PMs except their own.

Technically anyone who has access to the mysql username and password can log into phpmyadmin and view the pms.
They are not encrypted.  In this way they are described as personal messages, but no 100% guarantee/expectation that they are private.

So generally speaking the PM's can't be easily viewed.  And the way the messages are stored makes it less convenient aswell.

[salveregina]

Thank You, that is what I thought but felt I wanted to ask from somebody using SMF.

I have 2 additional questions that have nothing to do with this issue.

Does SMF do all your backups?  How often?
And has SMF ever gone down for a few days?  How often over the last year?

I'm with a different company at the moment, but I wanted to know more about SMF.

Thank You.

[karlbenson]

SMF doesnt host your forum. SMF provides the software. 
You download a copy of smf and install on your server. (whereever you choose to host it)

You can do backups as frequently as you like via SMF > Admin > Forum Maintenance.

Like I said above, smf is just the software, uptime/downtime is only relevent to whereever you choose to host/install your smf forum.

[metallica48423]

SMF as a software doesn't do automatic backups, there is however a java tool you can use on your PC to do automated backups with it.  It is pretty nice, you should give it a try.

Karl is correct, we provide the software (completely free of charge) which is run on a webhost.

Some hosting providers do have automated backup services, but this is something ask them .  There are some very SMF friendly hosts out there though, take a gander at Hosts and Hosting

[salveregina]

Thanks for the answers and for provinding me that link metallica, I'll definitely check it out.

Thank You again,
Salveregina

[tumbleweed]

For all your backup needs you can use these 3rd party tools if they work with your host:

http://www.simplemachines.org/download/?tools

Just scan to the bottom of the page and pick the tool for your OS.

tumble