Another topic about PM messages.

Well Olivier, the very first question that I would ask you is this:

What is it that you expect to achieve by sending messages to people that you don't even know, and that don't know you?

Isn't that a lot like being a telemarketer and just phoning people you don't know at random and expecting them to hear you out? More often then not, they're just going to slam the phone down in your ear, aren't they?

If you are wanting to network with people here, then the way to do it is to get known on the forums, make friends on the forum, build your contacts list and go from there. So, how do you go about doing that? Well, you introduce yourself and tell people about who you are, what you do and what your interests are. People with something in common with you are going to be more likely to respond favorably than they would to a "cold-call" style private message from somebody they've never heard of before.

If you want information, advice or assistance of some kind that is exactly what the forums are for. We have international forums (this one for instance) and national forums for almost every nation on earth, which you can find by scrolling down to the bottom of the main "Expat Forum" page to the list of countries and then selecting any of the nations that interest you. Posting to the forum will generally get you all the information, advice or assistance you need, without the need for private messages, as well as getting to be known and building your list of contacts.

If you're looking to sell a product or service, to post a job offer, looking for a job, offering or seeking accommodations - that is what our Classifieds section tabs in the green banner at the top of the page are for. You can post ads there to your heart's content. They'll not only get better exposure there, but they're going to be read by those interested in seeing them, not bother members who aren't the least bit interested. So you have a targeted audience, not just casting seeds to the wind and hoping they'll take root somewhere.

Private messages aren't such a blessing, as you might think. I've been a member here since 2010 and a member of Expat-blog Experts Team for over two years now. I'm active on many forums, but my principal activities are the Brazil Forum (both English and Portuguese forums) and the Canada Forum (English). Since I have volunteered to help people who either are already expats or wanting to become one I don't restrict my inbox in any way. That is not to say that sometimes I really wouldn't like to do just that, but that would deprive members who can benefit from my assistance the opportunity to access it. Getting an unsolicited private message from somebody I don't know seeking information, advice or assistance is one thing. However, getting an unsolicited private message from somebody I don't know hawking some product, offering some service that I don't want or need, or worse still some dubious get rich scheme or a flat out scam of some kind is an entirely different matter altogether.

It is exactly for this purpose that Expat-blog has an Anti-Spam System that requires new members to PARTICIPATE in the forums to activate their private message privileges. This automatically weeds out the "spambots", programs that simply flood social network members' mailboxes with crap. The prohibition against sending out copy & paste messages to several members also weeds out those who are real live human beings who are essentially here for the same reason as the spambots. Members here deserve that kind of protection.

This is not a social network like Facebook, it is geared to serve the needs of expats and would-be expats, not like Facebook by any means. If it were left wide open then it would certainly be filled with the same useless rubbish that you see flooding Facebook every single day. So how do we prevent that? Well some expat sites are by invitation only, generally speaking they're elitist boors and I wouldn't want to be a member if you asked me to. Then others require a membership fee, why should we pay for something that we could get for free elsewhere; and would paying a membership stop spammers in any way? Some, yes - but not all. So here at Expat-blog the drill is that you post to the forums, let us all know who you are and if you're a decent sort of guy (or gal as the case may be) then we other members flock around and get to know you and let you know us. Simple as that.

Those of us who've been here for any length of time think the system works just fine. It's here to protect you just as much as to protect us too. It's protecting your mailbox (once activated) from filling up with crap you don't want or need too.

Cheers,
William James Woodward, Expat-blog Experts Team

Filling useless posts on the forums to activate your mailbox doesn't work either.
You need to participate and share. You said that you have nothing to share as a newbie.
Maybe yes,  maybe no.  But at least you can share something, in your home country or in the countryyou are ccurrently are. Like William already said,  you can introduce yourself on several forums and reply on posts you know.  Before you know you extended your social network and unlocked your mailbox.

Hello all

@Ovda : I invite you to participate on threads in our Expat Cafe - open discussions. It is usually easier to participate over there in open discussions, sharing your state of mind and general things in life, This gets your account activated and also helps you find friends all over the world.

But please, beware to be on topic.

Regards
Kenjee
Expat.com Team

Your questions are also counted as useful posts, so you don't necessarily share experience and information.

Hi,

I understand all the reasons you mentionned before, the thing is that never during the inscription process or after the first posted messages, you get clearly warned about this.

And believe it or not but after personnaly contact some poeple (choosen by age and the city where I am), explaining my project and presenting myself, I got a lot of answers, mostly positive (I even get to meet someone in real life). When my overall presentation in the Romanian - Bucharest Forum didn't get any answers..
But now I'm kinda "stuck" and can't answer the message I recieved and the questions I'm asked by older members.

I don't even know after how many messages it will be unlocked.. should I try after each new post on the forum ? I don't blame the system (well a bit but I can understand why it is so). But more the lack of clarity behind it.

This said, thanks for the answers.

Ovda

Sounds like a load of cut and paste messages.
These earn you an automatic block from the PM system.
You seem to be using it as some sort of sales medium, also known as spam.

Indeed I use same presentation message for first contact with poeple in my area, wich is presentation of myself and explaining why I'm here and what I'm looking for. Wich don't change everyday.

Even if I have rooms in an apartment (wich is actualy not mine but I'm doing it to help a friend) to rent, I don't speak about it in PM messages, I posted an ad in the concerned area for it.

I definitely don't use PM to sell anything.

Again, I understand the policy, you need to protect members again malevolent poeple, floods, spammers etc.. what I regret is the lack of clear information regarding this when you start. And even after.

You seem to lack understanding of the situation, and what spam is.
One man's presentation is another man's spam.

I understand the spam rule is in the rules you checked as read when you joined but, if it isn't, I'm sure the founders/admin will be happy to add it for clarity.

You know now, as the auto message you got about the spam, sorry, cut and paste presentation, informed you.

You fully acknowledge that when downloading or uploading any material on the Expat-blog's server, or when communicating via Expat-blog (chat rooms, forums or any other kind of communication means on site), the following is strictly forbidden:

•Offers of services, even for free, ads, polls, contests or chain letters

I don't feel that trying to get in contact with poeple personnaly, and presenting myself, (even if this one is a copy paste of a presentation i've carefully writen, I mean I don't change from day to day) enters in any of those categories. You can also see that every other message posted after is circumstanced to the answered message, and I'm not in any way here to "offer services" and so on... I just want to meet new poeple!!

If you're talking about the ad for the apartement, if it's forbidden, I don't understand why there's a category that propose to post those kind of ads (and even asks you for the asked price).

And again, I'm not arguing about the principle, but more about the lack of transparency and information offered. I mean the website present itself as a blog, where there are different categories. "Network" and "Forum" being two different categories (as well as "housing"). So it feels like you could use each category in an independant way from each other.
Wich I learned now that it's not the case, in a frustrating way and even not knowing when I would be able to use the PM system again.

It is unfortunate that a few SPAMmers make such drastic restrictions necessary, and that it sometimes hits innocent posters like you (I haven't seen your PMs, but everything else you posted is perfectly o.k.).
I know from a discussion with the site owner (Julien) that the system might be changed in the near future, but I do not know if that will make it easier for genuine users like you.
However, you are free to contact him (by PM) and ask for an exception after explaining why you need it. He is generally open to reasonable requests.
Also, you may by now have enough posts to have the PM feature unlocked - or just post some more information about living in Romania!

Why don't we just ban this guy???  He obviously had nothing of substance to add to this forum

Bob K

Ovda wrote:

I don't feel that trying to get in contact with poeple personnaly,

Why not post your message in open forum, on this thread?
That way we can see if it's spam or not.

Bob K wrote:

Why don't we just ban this guy???  He obviously had nothing of substance to add to this forum

Bob K

Report the OP and see what the mods make of it.

Bob K wrote:

Why don't we just ban this guy???  He obviously had nothing of substance to add to this forum

Because we assume him innocent until proven guilty!

beppi wrote:

Bob K wrote:

Why don't we just ban this guy???  He obviously had nothing of substance to add to this forum

Because we assume him innocent until proven guilty!

This is true, but another poster is on really thin ice by now. I expect that one will be banned shortly.

This is crazy!!

I come here to ask precisions and explainations about how the system work and now some poeple want me to be banned?
Guys this is not serious, you can track all my others posts here and see that I'm not a flooder or spammer or anything else you may call it.
Maybe it took me some time to fully understand the working of the whole website, but I'm definitely not here for any harm at all, or to sell or wathever what bad intentions you give to me.

Like I said, I'm a newbie of an expat (in Romania) and I was hoping that such resource could help me to meet some poeple here, to answer some of my questions... And I will also take some time to help poeple who are now in my home country to answer some question on subjects I know about my own country. But please, I'm just here for a couple of days. Let me also the time to discover it...

Apparently "mas fred" you read the message I send to some users here in PM (maybe 15, max 20 of them), it has nothing agressive, no selling intentions in there, it just explain who I am, and what I'm looking for here.

And no I'll not post it here, I'm pretty sure that the poeple who have to see it can see it.

Ovda wrote:

This is crazy!!

Apparently "mas fred" you read the message I send to some users here in PM (maybe 15, max 20 of them), it has nothing agressive, no selling intentions in there, it just explain who I am, and what I'm looking for here.

And no I'll not post it here, I'm pretty sure that the poeple who have to see it can see it.

No, it isn't crazy. Cut and paste messages are usually just spam, and a pain in the bum to the majority - that's why the PM system gets blocked to C+P people.

As for the message, I have not read it, that's why I suggested you post it in open forum, so we can see if it's spam or something potentially beneficial or useful to members.

The forum is intended as a self help and information sharing group for expats all over the world, and it works very well as such.
It isn't intended for personal gain of members or advertising services as such.
After 5,000 + posts, I couldn't send cut and paste stuff without getting kicked out of the PM system, so why should you be exempt?

As for the ban, one member did suggest it, probably because he's sick of people asking why they can't cut and paste/spam the PM system, then moan about it.

The forum used to allow the PM system to all new users but that was changed because of all the spam and general rubbish sent.

As a member that has seen both systems, I have to totally, without reservation, support the owner and admin staff on this issue.

Ovda wrote:

Apparently "mas fred" you read the message I send to some users here in PM (maybe 15, max 20 of them), it has nothing agressive, no selling intentions in there, it just explain who I am, and what I'm looking for here.

This is a just a guess, but I suspect it was the intro post on your local forum.
If true, that message isn't offensive or a sales pitch, but it does break the rules as no one is allowed to post C+P here, not even long established members.
Sounds like you just went about it in the wrong way.

I think you missunderstood me: I'm not asking for any exception for myself AND I didn't came here for personnal gain or to advertising services. (put asside an Ad I put rooms in a place here wich I think fully respond to the conditions for those kind).

I just wanted to stress out the fact that it was difficult to understand, and frustrating when you have already send some message and that at some point you can't anymore...~despite the fact that it is not mentionned before that you have to reach a certain amount on forums threads to be able to send more PM. (seeing ther number of threads about this subject I'm not the only one)
I now understand beter, thanks for the explanations and for the rest, let just leave it there.

Hi Ovda, and welcome on board.

I've explained the whole system in my very first post here : https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=23238

No need to read anything else, everything is explained in my first post.

This said, this system will soon change ... and your mailbox is now unlocked

all the best,

Julien

Hello, and thank you for your answer,

I effectively noticed that the messages were unlocked. Thanks.

I will do my best to contribute as good and usefully as I can here and be part of this very usefull and complete website.

All the best too.

Ovda

Ok now that all is settled we look forward to your participation in the board.  Welcome

Bob K

beppi wrote:

Because we assume him innocent until proven guilty!

Imagine how much better the world would be if people actually followed that.