New Member Can't See/Send PMs

[Zhivago]

Would anyone have any idea why the new member who posted in the For Sale forum thread below can't receive or send messages?

https://fpgeeks.com/forum/showthread...r-Steel-F-Nib)

The relevant posts from the thread (numbers 11, 12 and 14):

I'm interested in your F-C Heather pen. I just joined so unsure at the moment just how to PM, & hope this will suffice for now.

Note to Zhivago:
For some unbeknownst reason the board is not allowing me to receive, nor send messages, thus this post. Sorry, but I've tried MULTIPLE times at different times with no success. I give up.
Best regards,
~J.

I've seen the notifs...but when I click on the li'l 'expand' arrow [to view/read], it produces a blank page with a only a header logo visible. Am I under any kind of Noob restriction or something?

[Chrissy]

I've looked through all of the FAQ pages and can't find a reason for the problem. There is no mention of a restriction in terms of time limit for new members being able to send or receive Private Messages although there may potentially be a 7 day limit, so it may be one of two possible problems: User error or Incorrect registration. It's the kind of question a member would usually ask an admin or a moderator but we all know the problems there.

Registration requires confirmation of the email address and if a new user can log-in and post as a member then he must have passed that requirement.

Exactly how is he sending the Private Message to you? Is he clicking on your username and pressing Private Message? When he clicks on your username on any of your posts, then presses Private Message, does he see a page like this?

In order to read a Private Message is he clicking on Private Messages next to FAQ or is he clicking on the word Notifications then Inbox? What does he see then?

It's all quite intuitive so I'm out of ideas regarding what the problem could be especially as I don't know exactly what he has pressed and what he sees when he has pressed it.

[Zhivago]

Thanks, Chrissy. I know nothing beyond what he posted in the For Sale thread. I sent him both a private message and a visitor message. I hope he hasn't given up and we can find a fix.

[TSherbs]

some sort of adblocker on? Sometimes window popups get blocked (collateral damage)

[dneal]

So I used the PM function today. The reply (sent via TapaTalk) left the subject field blank, which made it impossible to open. I don't use TapaTalk, but installed it on my iPad and was able to open the message.

Note the blank space in the subject field of the top message.

Inbox.png

Weird, right?

So part of the troubleshooting (before installing TapaTalk) was to check "Sent Items" and see if I could access the message there, since the new format works as a "thread", where the old format had distinct messages with check boxes - which previously allowed deletion of individual messages as opposed to the entire mailbox.

Lo and behold, today the "Sent Items" box is back to the old format. Also weird.

SentItems.png

I'm not sure what the issue is, but a work around is indeed to use TapaTalk (and you can delete individual inbox messages through that app). I'm not a fan of using a separate app, but it is what it is...

--edit--

Actually, although I deleted some individual PMs and replies in the inbox through TapaTalk, I just realized the site shows the same number of messages taking up space. Weirder...

[Chrissy]

The PM Inbox on here is very clunky and although you can sometimes delete newish Inbox messages via Tapatalk, they don't necessarily disappear from your Inbox record. I wonder if it depends on both parties deleting the message or emptying their Inbox?

Even if you don't use Tapatalk and you use "Empty Folder", the only delete function available for Inbox, they don't disappear. I have 10 pages of messages even when I "Empty Folder" and once it gets up to 10 then that number of pages never reduces. It always resets the number of messages when you "Empty Folder" so at least that allows you to continue to use it.

The Sent Items folder is much more user friendly. You can delete Sent messages individually with no problems.

[FredRydr]

It's all too familiar, these forum bugs allowed to thrive and multiply:
https://fpgeeks.com/forum/showthread...aring-in-Inbox
https://fpgeeks.com/forum/showthread...patalk-reveals

[~JJ]

Hi,
I wanted to BUY goods you ADVERTISED as For Sale, but apparently responding to the ad, AT the ad, ist verboten.
It makes SO much sense to respond to ads here, in a distant thread about the forum's operation!
I guess I don't understand what a "forum" is, so, I'll just withdraw my offers, and myself.
Have a WONDERFUL

[Zhivago]

Hi,
I wanted to BUY goods you ADVERTISED as For Sale, but apparently responding to the ad, AT the ad, ist verboten.
It makes SO much sense to respond to ads here, in a distant thread about the forum's operation!
I guess I don't understand what a "forum" is, so, I'll just withdraw my offers, and myself.
Have a WONDERFUL

When you post in an FS thread, you are lowering other threads or knocking off the first page. That can obviously happen here, but it is less important. Obviously, handling this via pm would have been ideal but you still can't or won't do that even though you have sent me two private messages. It is interesting that you can send them but not reply to them.

You also have asked me to post my email in forum threads instead of just doing the same yourself.

You were told about this thread which was created to help you over a week ago and the above is your first post in it.

I would have liked to have sold you the items, but your behavior is unusual enough that suspicion is justifed.

[FredRydr]

The potential buyer’s problem might be one that I came to realize late in the game. Eric has vBulletin’s Inbox set up so that quick reply usually will go to the LAST sender of a message in a conversation. That means if you send a second message, it goes to yourself, yet vBulletin doesn’t seem to let you know what you’ve done. Even if you look at the conversation thread, it doesn’t help you to see that.

Therefore, the potential buyer is frustrated he gets no reply to a message unknowingly sent only to himself, while the seller has no idea what’s going on. If frustration leads to sending a consecutive series of quick replies to the other party in a conversation, guess who’s not seeing any of them.

On top of that, sometimes vBulletin by default offers a quote of the sender in the recipient’s reply, but usually not. Private messaging has really been left in a stupid set up.

Anyway, the workaround is to always first click the Advanced button before drafting a reply, which will then reveal the intended recipient(s) of the reply message.