What about a 'a private messaging system' module ?

[frommarcq]

Hi !

1. My ads websites are now active, and I can see that most of the registered users put their ads, and don't come back to the website again :-(

2. I've sent some newsletters, but the results are really bad...

3. Most of the users are registered with a free email (msn, yahoo, gmail...). They don't give their 'official' email, to avoid spam.

The idea : When a member is asked for its ads, send him an email ('you've got a message about your ad'), and ask him/er to log in to see the private message (like in this forum with the PM).

This system will be interesting for users who want their email address to be hidden (most of them). No risk for a woman to put an answer for a dating ad (it's an example). It would generate more traffic, and the registered members would use all the options included in 68Classifieds (statistics...)

I've the idea, but I'm not a programer... Who wants to create a module, including this private messaging system ?

I'm OK to pay to have this expected module!

[SkGold]

I vote twice. �Yes�, �Yes�

[frommarcq]

Hi,

I've tested this script, it totally offers what I need...
(Just an integration problem...)

http://sourceforge.net/projects/pmsys/

Question 1 : when a member registers his/er account (userjoin.php), is it possible to 'feed' 68Classifieds' table and the table of the PM system (4 fields are required : name, email, username and password, asked in 68Classifieds too).

Question 2 : when a registered member logs in, can s/he switch between the 68Classifieds software and PMS (with no need to enter his/er password again) ? Are there some problems with cookies ?

[Chad]

This is a huge feature that I was upset to find wasn't already a standard feature. It brings people back to the website and makes it central for communication.

[civ]

This is something we could greatly utilize as well.

[juven14]

Why not go a head and detail this system, how do you want it to work, what are your preferences, etc. This way when it does get built it will more accurately reflect how you want it to work.

They way I'd see it is to do away with the contact form, and replace it with a link to the private message system. Then the pm system would mail the user with a predefined subject if clicked on from an actual listing or maybe just the first x amount of characters of the body. I'd like to see this work like the current forum pm system.

[Chad]

I think you've nailed it Juven.

PM a member.
Member gets an email that a PM is waiting for them.
Member clicks link to read the PM and can reply.
If a reply is made, the original sender gets a PM.
and so on.

This would also require someone to register before they could PM someone about an ad. Cutting down on scams somewhat.

[civ]

Requiring registration to contact an ad owner would be a no-no IMO. A better solution might be to go ahead and dump the contents in their message/PM/whatever-we-call-it inbox but mark it as coming from a guest. When they hit reply it could just be a mailto: link to the interested party's email address.

[juven14]

Maybe we can only allow guests to message via a link from a listing, at least this way a potential spammer must first navigate to a listing. There would need to be some way of banning messaging from spammer ips and allowing users to block messages from guests as well as specified users.

[frommarcq]

This is the 'wish list' for a PM module :

- each member can be contacted by a visitor (registered or not, the admin has the choice).
- when a PM is posted, an email alert is sent to the recipient (with the content of the email). If the recipient wants to answer (or see the email address to a direct answer), s/he has to login to his/er account.
- a member can allow (or not) the send of non-registered members.
- the user database is common : the member don't have to log in again when s/he wants to write/read his/er messages.
- when a member is 'on line', a symbol is displayed in his/er public profile.
- (missing in PMSys) the member has the ability to see if his/er message has been read ('read receipt')
- the administrator can send specific mails (to 1 member).
- the template of the message alert could be customized (in 68 Classifieds admin area ?)

I think that PMSys would be a good script to implement in the PM module. Do you have other scripts to submit ? Do you have other suggestions in order to complete this wish-list ?