IMPORTANT PLEASE READ!!!!!: if you have never been in chat, used the private message or you don't even know what pm is, then please don't vote. this is for the people who have used it and know what it is. thank you....

As you may of known, the private chat in the UM chat room has been removed. We would like to know if you want it back or not. Vote in private and state your ideals if you wish.

I think private chat should be placed back into the chat room. With private chat you can talk to one person about your problems or just random stuff while not interupting the main chat. New users too shy to talk in the open can talk to one person in private chat until they are confindent enough to talk in the main chat. I agree that private chat should be brought back.

The chat room is for open public chat, not for private messaging. If people want to PM someone else they can do so via MSN or through the forum messanger. Nobody could say anything in the room at all without it appearing in public for all to see, no hiding, no relationships, no gossip, no harrassment, no unverifiable claims of private message misuse.

I don't use it much but PM is always a nice thing to have as like you said, it dosn't interfere with the public disscussion..

The chat room is a public chatroom. Private chat has the very real potential for misuses and as such it was disabled. If you want private chat, use MSN. It's easy and it's free.

it's always good to have PM... for a lot of people, UM has been sort of a second home where they can go to for refuge to see their friends... it is true that a lot of the people (who goes way back) have built friendships and shared pains and problems that they can't just forecast in the main chat. I understand that there are still some other ways of doing instant messaging (MSN or what not) but it is diffrent when you are in an environment where you feel most at home too. I can talk all i want to people via the use of other instant messaging network, but it will never be the same. My reason may seem vauge but i'm sure a lot of people would seem to relate. I have been a member for 10 months and I have met a handful of great friends it would be great to get to talk to them all in one venue.

once apon a time it was a good thing a very good thing indeed but now due to misuse and many times having been abused let it lay on the side of the road. it truely is better off left as road kill sorry hun but this how i hears it

here is a thought from one the UM users. The name will not be said

QUOTE

This may largely depend on what time of the day/night you visit the chat room. We still see numbers reaching the 20's on a fairly regular basis

YES LEAVE IT LAY AS ROAD KILL. TRUE, PEOPLE CAN RESORT TO USIN MSN OR YAHOO MESSENGER
FOR PERSONAL USE.

OMG spookie did u and i just agree there is still hope for the world

yeah well ive been here all sorts of times of days and ive only seen its highest point is 14 that ive seen.
i know the pm system has been misused. tell me somthing i dont know. every thing can be misused. i look at the world as this.. if we had to get rid of every thing for some one elses stupidty.. we would have NOTHING. people misuse cars. but no one has taken them away.. and if they did. well every ones life would be in hell. people have misused wood. does that mean we will not be able to use wood anymore. people have misused nails (yes ive seen people misuse nails) does that mean we cant build our homes and build projects anymore.. not if we have to take it all away. and some people may not be able to get MSN or Yahoo. or other chat rooms. some OSs dont suport that type of program (yes i have seen computers that dont). another reason for pm is this is UNEXPLAINED MYSTERIES. were you talk about your incounters, discoveries, and opinions... but i learned from EXPERIANCE. its not easy going in there and blurting what youve done out to every one.. it takes alot of time and i got my strength up from talking to people over the PM system because i was indeed scared to say it in public. and thats how ive met some wounderful friends..which sease to come on now. ive helped alot of people myself getting them to start talking out loud. and ive even helped people with their problems personaly thru pm. who wants to say their problems in public.. no one. it seems UM has not been the same sence then.. i even wish i would of had time so i didnt have to leave the site for this long.. now i come back and its just not the same now. i dont see as many faces as i used to. i konw this is my opinion and it may mean little to many but i guess it doesnt hurt stating ones opinion. good or bad. but i rather see the good.

and one more thing.. dont take a vote on here if you havnt even been to chat. or dont use it. only people who have been in chat or have used it can vote. i would almost say that Admins votes shouldnt count but i have seen the admins chat normaly in there and they use chat as well. so admin votes WILL count. though its not like we know who votes or not.. so guess we dont have a choise XD

I don't evn know what you mean by "TRUE" people...

I second hun, it doesn't hurt stating one's opinion.... and yeah i think it makes snese that ideally people who should even care to vote should be using chat but we'll never know

I third and second that!!!

Unfortunately there has in the past been too much inappropriate behavior that it is unlikely that private chat will be reinstated. SaRuMaN has the final word and I am sure that he will answer all queries on what plans he has.



This is a public opinion poll on a public message board. You cannot pick or choose who is allowed to vote

yes i know that, i just don't think it's fair if they say no and they don't even know what it is. then they are (in my view) blinding voting, but i can't stop them, that is just a request.

thank you.

Oh I forgot the comma after "True," sorry for any inconvience....

lol. im sure ALL the admins will be voting.. and im sure they wont be voting yes. just... ive said most of what i can say. just hope some more people might back up what i had to say

yeah well.. not much we can do about that voting thing.. not like i know who votes and what not.. no reason to get all defence about it jeez.. another thing i hate about this place its soooooooooooooooooo up tight. drives me nutty i swear. gotta pull all the technical stuff.

how did he even know there was being misuse in the PM system..its called PM for a reason.. i just dont understand how somthing in the PM system could get it turned off... its the pm system... how could some one complain about it. if some one is bothering you why cant they use the ignore botton (as i said in my other post) id rather not repeat myself

yeah lets bring PM back

yay then vote fellow UM member. though i dont know you much... though it would be nice to know people better. which is hard to do without pm as well... some times i just dont wanna say who i am and what i drive and were i live in public.

i believe people used it as a datin service.... and i don't think theres a datin forum or thread any where here on UM. that i think is one of many reasons not to hav PM. like said before "yahoo or msn would be a good deal and its free..."

couldn't of said it better my friend. i was afraid to even post this thinking they would shut it down or i would get banned. and if someone is bothering you on the pm there is an ignore buttom you on. just right click the name and hit ignore, couldn't be easier.




yes, if you agree that pm should be brought back, don't be afraid. voice your ideal and vote "yes".

like some had said. some computer can't do yahoo or msn. like mine, i can't get either of them on here cause it blocks it and i had it looked at and it can't be fixed. however my computer does work with the pm. and saying that people used it as a "datin service" is an excuess. how could that be missued. pm and chat is used for whatever you want to talk about and does not need a forum.

no one said it was a dating serves.. though there are relationships..thats natural. not saying everyone should have a relationship. but no reason to cut the people who do have one down.. love is a mystery to this world. love can come and go anywere any time. just takes that person or moment. love can be fount anywere... now i dont agree with using search engines to find love.. i think love should come naturally. so i can agree and disagree with you on that one spook. and actually Sunny chat should have UM stuff in it and other stuff.. cant really talk about anything in there.. though they DO have a GENERAL and UNEXPLAINED rooms now so maby we can talk about what ever we want now in the general room idk...

well whatever it may be used for... i don't think it's comin back any time soon. unless a miracle happens jus out of the blue. which i doubt. okay, im done with this and good luck with it...

There's so many bad people out there these days that it's not surprising to see privaleges revoked in public gatherings of net users. Im surprised that people even want it back considering the obvious reasons private chat shouldn't come back. Predators are everywere, all the time, hunting, preying, spying- Im glad their doorway is closed here on UM.

As romantic a notion as that may be, it is also highly impractical. There are many minors and teenagers that come to this website. And protecting them from sexual deviants, or 'love struck adults' should be a high priority. Having experience with several other chat rooms, some similar to the one on U.M. (in topic) the P.M. systems in live chats can be abused far too easily. It lulls trouble makers into a false sense of security, and they often will blatantly disrespect and go against the rules and the whole purpose the chat room even exists in these P.M.'s. It's also exceedingly hard to pull people out of their chat P.M.s to actually, you know contribute to the chat room experience, (or detract from it by breaking rules.) making the chat room appear dead, since no-one is talking outside of P.M.'s.

It's also infinitely harder to moderate a room when private messaging is enabled, because then most complaints become nothing more than a case of he said, she said, when a majority of chat room software doesn't allow moderators (Unsure if this is the case for U.M.) to check on going P.M.'s with individuals, giving the administrator (the site owner, and the one with absolute clearance on the forums) even more work to drudge through, going through chat logs.

It is just safer, all around, to keep chat room P.M.'s disabled. It creates a safer atmosphere for the minors, keeps the trouble makers in plain sight, when all they have is the actual chat room to talk through, cuts down on the administrators work, and it promotes more conversation and topics being brought up in the chat room.

So, my vote would have to be a resounding "No."

-Akaebeel

their "doorway" is every were ya just gotta know what to do.. thats called survival. its a scary world out there. dont think kids should be in chat rooms anyway. not talking out side of the pm?! haha thats the reason i used the darn pms the convos were so dence i couldnt type nothing. i still remember when people ACTUALLY missed some typing people put up because chat was going so fast. so thats out of the question. yeah maby chat goes dead when theres only about what 3-4 people. and ive never ever seen you two on chat before. sure ive had some rough times on PM. but i have also had some wounderful times in pm.. like helping people and stuff... see it balances out. not every one who uses pm is bad ya know. just wish people would see the good side of pm instead of the bad side. sure some things are unsafe.. the chat room it self is unsafe or could be unsafe at any time..EVERY THING IS UNSAFE. we take chances and risk all the time. we all think were safe in our little houses. when a tree out of know were could fall on it. i think no minor should even be on ANY FURUM without knowing safe stuff on how to survive.

im done fortonight.. not in a good mood. and my head hurts. im sorry if i seemed defencive on some of the post. just so much going on.. good nighta ll on the furums... sence its all we pretty much have left. at least one decent thing that hasnt fell under

If you want to chat with all your *friends*at once then maybe you should get them all to become members on a site that caters to chat.This site is not designed for group general chat,so why use it for that

obviously this chat is ment for it.. though now its a big ass group chat now, were EVERY one has to hear EVERY ONEs problems. and kissmet that is another good reason is the homey feel. ive been with this website for almost 3 years. this place is...was...like a second home for me. especially the chat room. i met alot of wounderful people on the chat room as well. its not like its going to matter anymore... we are being out voted anyway...though we have more no votes than no reasons..which makes no sence... guess the good ol days will never be again... *sits in silence*. i cant take this sh** no more. im going to bed for real.. this is starting to get to me emotionaly. hopeeveyr one has a woulender ful night/day what ever..

And any administration of any public website, public event, anything pertaining to the public must take steps to insure the safety of those attending it, those going to his or her website. Obviously if the chat room P.M.'s have been disabled, they were being abused, and seeing how Saruman tends to be pretty lenient (from what I have seen) , people must of been doing a lot of things that the P.M. the chat room and all of U.M. wasn't intended for, in order for it to get shut down. So I do not think he shut down the use of chat room P.M.'s from a knee jerk reaction, but that it actually benefits the chat room.

I don't think anyone is against people making friends on a website and chat room. But sometimes (often) people can take things too far, and cause issues and strife with in the chat room. And then these same people will spill their disputes, which often are born in private messages, into the main chat, and then prevents decent conversations to be taken place about the entire point of the website, and the chat room--the unexplained. Disabling P.M.'s is a cautionary measure that many people take, when they find people abusing the system. Because, sadly, the few bad seed's can ruin the experience for everyone else.

There are other chat rooms for such things, and I don't see why a place that is here to delve into the unexplained in this world (and others) needs to be subjected to these things. It deters from the concept of this website. Now, I cannot speak for everyone else, but I'd much rather have an in depth conversation about the "Paranormal" or "Supernatural."

Now, I'm not condemning the use of the P.M.'s in a chat room, they have their uses. Nor do I think that all people that use said P.M.'s is 'bad.' But there are, clearly, those that misuse the service, and it's better to take a precautionary measure,than do nothing and regret it afterwards.

And to answer the question you alluded to: I'm in chat pretty often.

-Akaebeel

I voted no, its a pain, I usually get nonsense pm's anyways. I think its easier for the mods/staff also.

there's a pretty simple solution if you just HAVE to have private conversations... instally some instant messaging application, that should do the trick. PM's in chat just create problems. If users feel they need to talk privately, it's easy to create an IM profile you use just for UM... so you don't have to give our your regular IM account and e-mail address.

If you have problems in the chat room with other users, you can still PM the moderators.

I think Akaebeel hit the nail on the head here, without going in to specific details there were members grossly abusing the private chat feature in the chat room which was creating some very serious safety concerns for our members. Since disabling it we haven't seen any further such problems, its removal has been paramount to keeping the chat room a safe and friendly place to visit.

I'm afraid the decision is not up for debate or public vote, those who are looking to have it re-enabled are likely unaware of the nature of the problems the private chat system was causing; SG and Sunburst i'll drop you both a PM to give you a better idea of what I mean.

In the meantime, I think we can close this down.