Who uses the messages feature?
Joachim
May 11, 2008, 07:27 PM posted in General DiscussionOn the right in everyone's profile (About You) is a messages icon. I have sent less than 10 messages to other users and only received 2 or 3 replies. It looks like people prefer to communicate via posts, anyway.
Does anyone use this feature more often and with more success? Wouldn't something like conversations with a restricted readership (my pals or something) be more interesting?
nial
December 20, 2008, 07:29 AMhehe calkins, maybe I should get a less-cute avatar because it seems the majority of messages I get are from guys "can we practice each others language together? 你很可爱".... but I do use it pretty often to talk to some Cpoddies
I've only ever gotten one message before on this, but it was ALSO from a guy wanting to practice language with me! But unlike you, I've put up the ugliest picture of me I could find (okay not really).
-nial
RJ
May 11, 2008, 09:26 PMI guess I should have addressed that to Joachim.
bazza
May 11, 2008, 10:25 PMI use email as little as possible now, as it's so overloaded with spam is it's effectively unusable. We need an email 2.0 that's spam proof.
chillosk
May 12, 2008, 12:29 AMI use it whenever I have a question that doesn't seem to fit within a certain thread. It's pretty useful in keeping things private as well.
sushan
May 12, 2008, 05:55 AMThink people should use the feature a lot more; there are far too many lesson conversations that contain off-topic chats between just a couple of users. I've had people correct my Chinese or answer questions via the messages, which was OK but others on the thread might have benefited from the information as well.
boran
May 12, 2008, 04:03 PMI think it has its uses when you want to send a private message to someone that's off-topic or not relevant to anybody else. However, it's current implementation is somewhat lacking which I think makes its usage rather limited. First, it's not obvious when you do get a message. The newest version of SpanishPod fixes this by putting a "message icon" at the top of every page rather than buried in your profile page. Also, there's no ability to see messages after you send them. Finally, it would be nice to be able to quickly send someone a private message by providing a small message icon next to everyone's name. This also makes the messages feature more obvious too.
Joachim
May 12, 2008, 08:41 PMboran: Are you thinking of something like instant messaging or chat rooms?
boran
May 13, 2008, 03:48 AMJoachim: Actually, I was just thinking about how it could be easier to send someone a message. That is, right now you have to click on a person's name to go to their page and then click on the "send message" link in order to send a message. Instead, I was thinking that you could have the "send message" link as a little mail icon next to each person's name (or below their avatar) so you could click on that to send a message. That way, there's one less click to send a message plus it is more obvious that the message feature exists. I think part of the reason it's not used much is that the feature is a bit hidden. Instant messaging would also be great. I think that would really improve the community aspect of the site similar to the way LiveMocha's chat feature does.
mark
May 13, 2008, 04:31 AMI've only used the message feature a few times, but I am glad it is there. I met some nice people through it.
RJ
May 11, 2008, 09:25 PMSue, I use it quite a bit. True email can follow, but its the only vehicle by which email addresses can be privately exchanged between two people. Sometimes still easier to use the send message function. It varies. In fact, it used to be possible to automatically have all messages forwarded to email but that has been suspended (suposedly temporarily). Im not sure how "my pals" would work but I wouldnt want to loose the capability provided by the messages function.
Joachim
May 31, 2008, 06:10 PMSo, here we have a new Chinesepod look and feel , but still no way to display sent messages. Nowadays, it doesn't display an email address either. Although, there are probably more pressing problems to be tackled, I'd really appreciate some improvement in this area.
azerdocmom
May 31, 2008, 06:24 PMJaochim
My last message after the change has the entire message in one continuous paragraph separated by a ">" symbol. Not ideal for visual clarity, but it at least shows me what I wrote. I will send you a PM to try it out.
Joachim
December 18, 2008, 06:13 AMI still do not see any progress on this issue.
Quite a number of other issues haven't been tackled, either.
tvan
December 18, 2008, 06:40 AMJoachim, I use the message feature, albeit infrequently, if I have negative comments for a user. (You know, praise in public, criticize in private.) I've never received any spam on it. I certainly don't rely upon it as a primary e-mail tool, and maybe my expectations are low; but it works for my purposes.
helenaoutloud
December 18, 2008, 08:20 AMNow that I think of it, I don't really use it that much. It does come in handy once in a while though. ^_^
calkins
December 18, 2008, 09:55 AMI use it fairly often, mostly to send a message to an avatar that I think is cute (totally kidding). I do use it often though, but sometimes it makes my Firefox crash when I click the "send" button.
urbandweller
December 18, 2008, 05:13 PMAre we referring to the personal message feature?
I find this thing to be very useful...
1. when i want to clarify my thoughts to someone, apologize, or further explain an issue and NOT take up public space. Or just ask a dumb question and not have everyone comment on it...example: Me asking Calkins recently if he took his big fat cat with him to Taiwan! ha ha!
2. to make more language partner/friend connections.
3. privacy - To communicate email/phone/directions etc...and you dont want the world to know
I get replies most of the time ecspecially by the regulars (like calkins) but not always by the people just passing thru on the trial period.
ok enough of my 2 cents...
-AD
kesirui
December 19, 2008, 05:16 AMhehe calkins, maybe I should get a less-cute avatar because it seems the majority of messages I get are from guys "can we practice each others language together? 你很可爱".... but I do use it pretty often to talk to some Cpoddies
Joachim
May 13, 2008, 10:31 AMI was just clicking the little
AuntySue
May 11, 2008, 07:54 PMWhen you send a message, you reveal your email address to the other person. So I won't reply unless I am happy for them to know my email address. Since we can't avoid exchanging email addresses anyway, I find it more convenient to just respond by email.