How often do you receive personal messages on myLot? Do you respond?
By bayernfan
@bayernfan (1430)
Canada
December 15, 2008 12:39am CST
I receive personal messages occasionally on myLot, and I like to respond because they allow me to engage in one-on-one discussions, meet new friends and foster growing relationships. How do you feel about private messages? Do you find that you get too many messages each day and they take up too much of your time to respond to? Perhaps the PMs that you receive are the best part of your myLot experience? Some forums that I am a member of allow for the private message function to be disable because some members don't want to be bothered with them. Would you support such a measure on myLot? Can you live without your private messages?
3 people like this
22 responses
@zweeb82 (5653)
• Malaysia
15 Apr 09
How often? Very seldom, haha!~
But once received, normally it will be back & forth & very long? Haha!~I think the ability to disable or enable is a good feature as it gives us privacy. It would be even better if one could just block a certain person as they might spam too much?
But once received, normally it will be back & forth & very long? Haha!~I think the ability to disable or enable is a good feature as it gives us privacy. It would be even better if one could just block a certain person as they might spam too much? @bayernfan (1430)
• Canada
15 Apr 09
I haven't been involved in any chain PMs on myLot. Sometimes, on other forums, PMs can get so long that I have to delete previous quotes just to be able to manage the conversation. Allowing members to have private discussions is valuable for the individual members and it helps keep the main discussions neat and clean. I am happy with how the system works now, but I can see where you are coming from zweeb. Cheers. 
Allowing members to have private discussions is valuable for the individual members and it helps keep the main discussions neat and clean. I am happy with how the system works now, but I can see where you are coming from zweeb. Cheers. 1 person likes this
@bayernfan (1430)
• Canada
16 Dec 08
I understand why some members want to try this approach, but does anyone honestly think that cold SPAM mails actually work? There aren't enough members on myLot to make the ratio of those who bite on the SPAM versus deleters to make the action worthwhile. You are very likely going to damage your reputation. Sounds like a good reason to remove someone from your friends list. Cheers.
@bayernfan (1430)
• Canada
20 Dec 08
Yeah, that's right. It's best not to respond to SPAM PMs as it only encourages the Spammers o continue. Cheers.
@trickiwoo (2702)
• United States
14 Apr 09
You can only receive PM from MyLot users on your friends list. So if you don't want to receive a PM from a certain user, just remove them from your friends list! And don't add friends that you don't want to receive PMs from!
Lately all of the PMs I've gotten are from MyLot saying that my tasks have either been approved or rejected. I really don't get a lot of PMs from other MyLot users. Occasionally I'll get one from a user thanking me for my help in some matter. I've also received one asking about my username and where it came from. But most of the PMs I get from other MyLot users are sharing links.
@bayernfan (1430)
• Canada
15 Apr 09
I will just add that it isn't always easy to tell whether someone who you add as a friend will abuse the opportunity or not. For the most part the membership on myLot is top notch and I have no problems, but there is the odd time where someone chooses to act inappropriately or take liberties. That's when your suggestion is implemented. Most of my recent message have been from the MyLot task creator too. The others have been from members sending unsolicited program promotion/referral links.
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
15 Apr 09
I don't send or receive a lot of private messages. I reply to some of the messages that I get, it depends what kind of message it is. If it is a personal message for me I reply, but sometimes the message is only a link to another site. I sometimes receive money making links that I didn't ask for, I know that many people find that annoying, but I don't mind receiving those links. I might not be interested in the link but then I close the message and move on. I think that it is a good thing that we are able to send private messages to eachother.
@bayernfan (1430)
• Canada
15 Apr 09
I send and receive many messages on other forums, but not while on myLot. Recently, I receive many messages from the task creator. I consider unsolicited program promotion to be a pain, but if others are okay with them, then I have no problem with that. I have options to deal with the problem, so I have no interest in forcing a change on everyone. Private messaging is a necessity on any forum. Thanks for sharing.
@gxtiantian (208)
• China
16 Dec 08
To be honest, I have not received one yet. But if I got one sometime in the future I will respond to it as soon as I see it. And I am just looking forward it .
@bayernfan (1430)
• Canada
17 Dec 08
Hang in there. Your time will come. We all get PMs now and again if we've been members long enough on myLot. Even if it just the SPAM PMs that some members here have been talking about.
@ramanjain (13)
• India
15 Dec 08
i have been inactive for a long time after joining in here and am giving this a try. Have only one friend so there are hardly any personal messages for me. Moreover i think it is for an individual to respond to the messages or simply skip over them. One may not be responding at all if the messages dont mean much sense to someone.I would allow messages to pour in an respond to those which interest me.
@bayernfan (1430)
• Canada
16 Dec 08
This is the default option on most online forums and I would venture to say the most popular choice for memberships.
@kunking (1118)
• China
16 Dec 08
hi, bayernfan! i did get some PMs at times..and basically they came to me because i want to tell my friend something when it is more proper to PM them than responding to the discussion..and also my friends will do the same..sometimes there are newbies who have some questions to ask me as my referrals..and ocassionally there are also some of my friends to recommend me to join a online earning site..i would like to respond those PMs most of times unless i get bored of the earning site that i'm not interested in it...i think the PM function here is ok ..have a nice day and happy mylotting!
@bayernfan (1430)
• Canada
16 Dec 08
Thanks for leaving your comments kunking. Private messages are definitely handy for personal discussions with friends that you don't want everyone else to be a part of. PMs also effectively keep discussions clean, as they aren't filled up with an alternate discussion that may or may not have anything to do with OPs original comments. Cheers.
@bayernfan (1430)
• Canada
16 Dec 08
Smart move. That is exactly the treatment that I would give those Spammers. It is unfortunate that several members have posted of similar experiences as yours. SPAM is an epidemic. How do we eradicate it???
@mimico (3617)
• Philippines
15 Dec 08
I don't really notice the frequency. usually, I only get spam mail on mylot asking me to join certain sites. But the last pm I received was from someone I sort of knew online so we were able to chat for a while which was a little fun. I would be quite excited whenever I received a new message from the friend, so I can see how PMs can be a great draw here in mylot.
@bayernfan (1430)
• Canada
16 Dec 08
Thankfully, I do not receive to many spam or unsolicited PMs. Private Messages can be an essential tool on some forums. I belong to some online local Buy/Sell/Trade forums, and it would be so much more cumbersome and time consuming to try and interact outside of the PM system. As an added bonus, PMs can provide a little bit of protection as you have a record of the conversations that took place when you were trying to arrange a deal. 
@deborahkat (519)
• Brazil
15 Dec 08
As I am starting out here I just got one message till now. And I answered and will love to answer all of the messages I receive from now on.
@bayernfan (1430)
• Canada
16 Dec 08
That's a nice attitude. Did myLotters start flooding your inbox with messages after you posted this comment?
@bayernfan (1430)
• Canada
16 Dec 08
Yeah, private messages on myLot can be like receiving a pleasant surprise now and again. I just wondered how many members, if given the option, would choose to disable the feature themselves. Judging by the responses so far, not too many. I do know of a bunch of people who do it on other forums that I am a member of though. Happy myLotting.
@theembittered (1025)
• United States
15 Dec 08
I just use the pm messages to get links or send links to friends or members here at my lot and i just occasionally receive private messages to have a talk or discussion with some friend!! i think i cant like without private message because i have sing up so many good places with the links so friends gives me by private messages! well have a nice day and hope you will have a very good week ;) see you soon and bye bye.
@bayernfan (1430)
• Canada
16 Dec 08
I will go out on a limb here and say that this has to be the most common use for PMs on myLot. Thanks for the well wishes and all the best to you too.
@krfanlim (232)
• Malaysia
15 Dec 08
Aww, i haven't received any at all!! But i think it's okay, people messaging you to ask you a question or two, and you get to have a one-on-one conversation with that person.
But other than that, when it comes to chatting, online messengers are still the best option for me :)
@bayernfan (1430)
• Canada
16 Dec 08
There are some members on other boards that I frequent that are always asking to join private conversations on IM. I prefer PMs though.
@bayernfan (1430)
• Canada
16 Dec 08
It's nice to get in touch from time to time with members on myLot. I would tend to think that sending referral links is probably the most popular use for PMs on myLot because it is the only way myLot allows user to share referrals. Most of the time myLot members are polite enough to ask if I would wish to use their referral link and not just send one unsolicited. Happy myLotting.
@dolce_vita78 (8062)
• Philippines
15 Dec 08
Hi there bayernfan!
I occasionally receive personal messages here on myLot. Most of them come from very good friends of mine in this wonderful site. Others are messages coming from people who are sending referral links to other sites. With regards to the messages sent by my friends, well, I make sure that I respond as soon as I can. Well, since this is one way that I can respond to my friends here on myLot, I am fine with it.
@bayernfan (1430)
• Canada
16 Dec 08
Yeah, private messages are a handy way to communicate with friends on myLot and it is a quite way of doing so as well. I guess if you want to send referral links to another member on myLot, the PM is the only way. Thanks for responding. Cheers.
@pweety_princess (2012)
• Australia
15 Dec 08
I don't think there should be such an option on mylot where you can choose not to receive any private message, but only block someone if there really annoying you with spam, and staff would block them for you. Mylot is a socializing website so it's good to have PMs. I actually don't get alot, infact I haven't got any in 2 months! However if I do get a PM, and find it boring I will still reply, because it is being polite. :)
@bayernfan (1430)
• Canada
16 Dec 08
That is very courteous of you pweety_princess. Some of the other forums that I am a member of have an ignore function where all responses or PMs from members on the blocked list can't be seen, in the case of comments posted, or can't be received, in the case of PMs to your mailbox. The ignore function is quite handy when dealing with abusive, immature or belligerent members. The ignore function can also be a great way to deal with trolls or spammers. Cheers.
Some of the other forums that I am a member of have an ignore function where all responses or PMs from members on the blocked list can't be seen, in the case of comments posted, or can't be received, in the case of PMs to your mailbox. The ignore function is quite handy when dealing with abusive, immature or belligerent members. The ignore function can also be a great way to deal with trolls or spammers. Cheers. 
@machel2008 (616)
• China
15 Dec 08
frankly to say,i have not usualy received the personal messages on mylot,but sometime i have also received personal message.when i received personal message i am so happy,so i will respond for each message i received.
@bayernfan (1430)
• Canada
16 Dec 08
The good thing is that it is easier to respond to PMs and doesn't take up to much of your time when PMs come intermittently.
@roselynm1023 (950)
• Philippines
15 Dec 08
yes i guess. private message from the word itself means that your communication is of different level i may say that it may be on acquiantance level. we all know that people here came from different nations and of different races. though its not bad to make friends with other people because i am pretty sure that we will learn something from them.
happy posting!
@bayernfan (1430)
• Canada
16 Dec 08
Members should always be aware that PMs are not that private. The ADMINs of the site have access to and can store messages. PMs might not be posted on any myLot boards, but just like e-mail at work, you have to be careful what you type and share. Good luck out there.
@Richard_Uther (229)
• Argentina
15 Dec 08
I haven't been here for long, and I haven't gotten any PMs so far. If I did though, I'd probably respond as soon as I see it. Unless the PM is very stupid, like asking how old I am, where am I from and whatnot. You know, stuff that are in my profile.
Rich
@bayernfan (1430)
• Canada
16 Dec 08
Perhaps part of the reason why PMs might be sent infrequently on myLot is because they take time and effort to write and they aren't going to earn members any money? Plenty of members are only here to earn and some members only have a short period of time each day to participate on myLot, so private messaging takes a back seat to other activities. As you state, people need a good reason to send a PM or they will just get ignored.
