# PM'd by a guest



## meson1 (Mar 10, 2015)

Hi guys

I seem to have been PM'd by a guest. An honest message asking questions about one of my pieces of equipment, not spam or anything. I'd like to reply to them but don't seem to be able to because they are not listed as a member. I wasn't even aware that non members could send PMs.

My question is, _is_ it possible to reply via PM; am I missing something? Or would it be permissible to post a reply as a new topic in the appropriate forum?

Kindest regards

Ian.

_PS: This is the message I received in my inbox._
[quote author="kaitlyn2004"]
Hi,

I happened to see in your signature that you've got the P0. I have been eyeing this as my next travel tripod head but there seems to be minimal information on it online! It sort of came and went, even though SOME still swear by it!

Was hoping you could share some insights about the head - how long have you had it.. likes/dislikes, etc.?

You've got a slightly beefier setup than I and I was wondering if you have any issues with it holding the weight, any creep, etc.?

Greatly appreciate your insights!

Kaitlyn
[/quote]


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## neuroanatomist (Mar 10, 2015)

I didn't think guests could PM. But, if a user deletes their account they show up as a guest so they may have done that after sending the message. Even more true if it's an old PM.


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## meson1 (Mar 10, 2015)

The PM was sent to me on "March 08, 2015, 11:05:30 PM" by *kaitlyn2004* underneath whose name appears the word "Guest".

So it's not an old PM.


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## neuroanatomist (Mar 10, 2015)

Searching the member list shows no member by that name, so it would appear the user deleted her/his account sometime after sending that PM. No way to reply at this point.


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## dcm (Mar 10, 2015)

I recently found there were two methods to contact you when I received an email out of the blue to my personal email address. The first method is configured on the Personal Messaging page. The second is a checkbox under your Email address on the Account Settings page which is independent of your Personal Messaging config. I don't know if this is what happened in your case, but you might want to uncheck the latter.


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## meson1 (Mar 10, 2015)

dcm said:


> ... The second is a checkbox under your Email address on the Account Settings page which is independent of your Personal Messaging config. I don't know if this is what happened in your case, but you might want to uncheck the latter.


The checkbox under Email address on the Account Settings page is, was and always has been unchecked. Thank you anyway. 

Besides, in this case it wasn't a direct email, it was definitely a PM. The PM triggered an email notification that I'd been sent a Personal Message, but it was a PM none-the-less.

I'm not worried about having been sent the message or about the message itself. My interest is in replying back to this person, although that doesn't look like it's ever going to be possible. C'est la vie.

There is a secondary worry that might concern the board admins as to how this person manage to send me a message. Did they find a backdoor or something? To that end, if a moderator or administrator needs to look at my PM inbox to examine the message and any associated data in the database behind the scenes, be my guest. I'm not going to delete it any time soon.


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## YuengLinger (Mar 10, 2015)

And 'Kaitlyn' is alway a fake name online. Bet it was from a guy.


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## meson1 (Mar 10, 2015)

YuengLinger said:


> And 'Kaitlyn' is alway a fake name online. Bet it was from a guy.


LOL


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## Admin US West (Mar 10, 2015)

meson1 said:


> The PM was sent to me on "March 08, 2015, 11:05:30 PM" by *kaitlyn2004* underneath whose name appears the word "Guest".
> 
> So it's not an old PM.



Since there was a account name, it was not sent by a guest. 

I checked the log and found that a spammer by that name was deleted by me early in the morning on the 9th. All posts made by a spammer will also be removed, but even Admins cannot view or remove private messages. 

Guests cannot post or send messages, but the forum settings allowed members with no posts to send messages. I've changed that, a member must have at least one post to send a message now. Members cannot remove their account, it must be done by a mod or admin.


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## Steve Balcombe (Mar 13, 2015)

YuengLinger said:


> And 'Kaitlyn' is alway a fake name online.



Funny that turned out to be true . When I was an Admin on another site, I reckoned I could spot spammers just from their user name nine times out of ten.


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