Lay My Hat

Is there any way of pushing outgoing PMs from the Outbox? They seem to get stuck more often than not.

MG

It is usually because the recipients don't know the PM is waiting for them. A message only moves to "sent mail" when the recipient has opened it.

If they didn't tick the box for email notifications of PMs (or no longer use the original email address so didn't get the notification) or they don't sign in to the forum - just browse as a guest - and therefore don't see the "announcement" above that there is a PM waiting, or just don't notice the announcement anyway even if they are signed in, they don't know there's a message waiting.

The only way round it is to post in the relevant thread that you've PM-ed them or, if it's really important, start a thread with "RoseGarden please check your PMs" as a title.

Thanks, Normandie, that all makes sense, though if they're just a guest, I assume you can't PM them anyway?

It was the BBC iPlayer thread, so I'll add a post there.

MG

Most PMs are sent as a result of a post so yes, the member had to be signed or logged in when they made their post. However, not everyone remains logged into sites - especially if they are on a shared computer.

On their next visit they may not bother signing in if there's nothing they want to respond to and in which case as an non-logged in member, they appear as a guest and don't see any on-screen notification of their PMs.

That probably isn't very clear... ...but hope it helps anyway.

Of course, there may be another reason:

The recipient has received an email telling them that there is a PM from Mountain Goat, and they have chosen not to open it

I have done that with a few muppets who object to my (perfectly reasonable!) opinions on another forum. I've one PM sitting there which is about a year old now...