Private messages

Quote: EvenBob

What your reasons say to me is, you want to
be able to reveal the content of PM's. Otherwise,
why would you care so much?

and?

Quote: rdw4potus

Yes, if you break the rule, there's a penalty. Compliance is your choice. Is that different than any other rule anywhere?

Well ... kinda, yeah ... For example, SOOPOO and I have a bet going on who will be the next president. If I loose, and choose not to pay, there will not be a penalty, but it would still be a wrong thing to do. On the other hand, if you send me a PM, and I publish it on the forum, there (probably) will be a penalty, but doing so still would not be a bad thing.

Quote: weaselman

Well ... kinda, yeah ... For example, SOOPOO and I have a bet going on who will be the next president. If I loose, and choose not to pay, there will not be a penalty, but it would still be a wrong thing to do. On the other hand, if you send me a PM, and I publish it on the forum, there (probably) will be a penalty, but doing so still would not be a bad thing.

I see your point. But how is that different than speeding when your wife is in labor, or assaulting someone to save another, or any other justifiable rule infraction? There's still a potential penalty, it's just also clearly worth taking the offending action.

The difference is that this case does not require justification. Justification is needed when you are doing something you know to be wrong to prevent a greater evil. Disclosing content of a conversation, that you have not promised to keep secret is not wrong, and thus does not require justification.

Quote: weaselman

The difference is that this case does not require justification. Justification is needed when you are doing something you know to be wrong to prevent a greater evil. Disclosing content of a conversation, that you have not promised to keep secret is not wrong, and thus does not require justification.

Without a compelling justification, you will be suspended for violating the rules of this site.

Quote: rdw4potus

Without a compelling justification, you will be suspended for violating the rules of this site.

Yes, I know. Like I said from the beginning, this is Wizard's site, and he is free to do whatever he wants and ban whoever he likes (or rather does not like). He could ban me without any reason at all, if he wanted to. To me, this is a question totally separate from that of the innate and/or implied privacy of private messages.

Quote: SOOPOO

There are a few protected conversations that are clear in our society-
Doctor- patient
Attorney- client
Wizard of Vegas pm sender- Wizard of Vegas pm receiver

I am trying to see if Mike will eliminate the third one.

I think if you do not want the world to know something, then YOU keep it to yourself.

Let's not forget priest- penitent.

I obviously value and respect the needed place for confidental and private conversations, even on a gambling forum.

As a person who spends entirely way too much time on the internet in various ways, I have a strange view on Private Messages. The Wizard's rules not withstanding, and the rules of any other site not withstanding, PMs pose all KINDS of problems. Consider, the majority of people "busted" on To Catch A Predator had their PMs read back to them by Chris Hansen.

The problem with a Private Message, is the word private. I mean, if someone walks up to you and says, "Hey, I want to tell you something in complete confidentiality, don't tell anybody else," you have the option/ability to say, "No, I don't want to hear what you have to say," and walk away. The same ability doesn't exist in a PM. When the sender sends a PM, it appears in the receiver's box. You can, of course, choose to not read the PM and just delete it, but let's assume you open it. And the PM says, "Hey, I just stabbed somebody to death. Cool, huh? Don't tell anybody." Are you stuck now?

PMs provide an IMPLIED confidentiality. When we send a PM to a person, we make an assumption that the PM conversation is just between the people involved. But the truth of the matter is that we didn't really ask the other person's permission to enter into a confidential conversation. We just make the assumption because it's a PM.

Now, you can have a website that says, hey, any PMs are confidential. But again, you can be forced into a confidential conversation that you don't want to be involved in. There's no asking of permission to enter into confidentiality.

PMs can be a scary thing. You want the ability to communicate with someone in a less than public matter such as the forum, while at the same time hoping for some confidentiality between the persons involved.

I guess, in my years of being online, I came to the following conclusion. PMs are great, and for the most part, the confidentiality between them has been upheld. But at the same time, I treat them with some trepidation. There's a reason why I'm only PMing the person and not giving them my private phone number so they can contact me directly.

All I'm saying is that you shouldn't quote private messages in the forum or to other members. What you do with them outside of the site is beyond my control.

Quote: Wizard

All I'm saying is that you shouldn't quote private messages in the forum or to other members. What you do with them outside of the site is beyond my control.

So if you post them on a seperate site and post
a link to the site, thats OK?