Direct messages
Your inbox with members, what members can send each other, and the controls you have over all of it.
- messages
- community
- privacy
Direct messages in your console is your own inbox: conversations between you and individual members. Members also message each other, and those conversations are private.
What you can change
Message settings hold the controls, and the important ones are owner only.
Who can message. By default every member can message you and each other. If you sell tiers, you can require a level, and members below it either see messaging locked or do not see it at all.
Photos and files. Each can be allowed or switched off.
The member directory. Whether members can browse each other at all.
Screening. An automated reader that checks messages members send each other for harm. Available on the Growth plan.
Using it well
The inbox is where retention actually happens. A message to somebody who has gone quiet, referencing the thing they said they were working on, is the single highest return five minutes in your week. Their member record holds the notes that make it possible.
Common questions
Do members get an email when I message them?
If they do not open it, they get a nudge by email shortly after, so a message to a lapsed member is not shouting into an empty room.
Can I message everybody at once from here?
No, and that is on purpose. Reaching everybody is what broadcasts are for. A direct message that is obviously a mailshot does more harm than a mailshot.
What happens to messages when somebody leaves?
The conversation stays in your inbox, marked as a former member.