February 10, 201016 yr A lot of people who blatantly just use these forums to scout for work and do very little in the way of contributing to the community love to reply to many LTH forum topics with the ever-so-common "PM sent". Do you get annoyed seeing these replies on topics? Or does it not bother you? It annoys me - simply because of the following reasons: The original poster will normally receive notification of a private message both by email and popup when they next visit the forums "PM sent" does not add anything constructive to the topic - does anyone actually G.A.F. that you sent someone a PM? No! Certain people on these forums literally ONLY ever post "PM sent" in these topics and have NEVER posted anything else in their posting history - not even a "Hello!" topic in the Introductions forum! Discuss...
February 10, 201016 yr Yep it is annoying as hell - I think that as Mods, we need to sit down and look at the whole Looking to Hire section, but that is a bigger and more in depth conversation. I say that we BAN the use of PM SENT in a thread!
February 10, 201016 yr Agree with all except point 3, nothing wrong with trawling for work - though I hate the opposite, cheapskate chancers who trawl for a free website...
February 10, 201016 yr Banned. In your face I got a +1 for that comment I can see how it might be a bit annoying but to be honest it really doesn't bother me much. It seems to be something that happens on all forums I have been on so I think its just what people do. Just accept it I say and maybe take the mick out them when it happens to make you feel better.
February 10, 201016 yr PM sent makes me want to commit technocide. I say we have a 3 strikes and you're out policy. Once the frightful phrase has been used for the third time, we sell the perpetrator's email address to v!agra salespeople.
February 10, 201016 yr It is annoying, although does serve a purpose so people know who has applied or shown interest. Could also be used to target people who often pick up the same type of jobs.. instead of looking to hire, ask a few selected people individually. Though if they don't contribute to the rest here, it is just annoying. I'm undecided on the matter.
February 10, 201016 yr For the most part, I find it annoying. I did it when I first got here because I saw others doing it. Afterwards, I found it seemed somewhat desperate and that was not the way I wanted my potential clients to view me and more importantly, that's not the way I wanted to view myself.
February 10, 201016 yr There is absolutely no excuse WHAT SO EVER for posting "PM Sent". It's not a great way to introduce yourself to a new prospective client. If you're interested, say why. Sell yourself for the role, ask a question, make a suggestion... If you haven't got anything useful to say, don't say anything at all... the PM is still there. As for the people who do nothing but "PM Sent" around here, they are leeches and should be banned IMO. This is a community and people should treat it like one. If you want to get a benefit from being here you should contribute as well. Edited February 10, 201016 yr by ErisDS
February 10, 201016 yr I had a "rant" at somone about it and their excuse was so they can keep track on which topics tbey have replied to. I find it annoying as they have no reason to help build the forums, just to spam for work
February 10, 201016 yr The "PM Sent" thing doesn't really bother me on the whole, The only thing that really irritates me is seeing dead-thread-humpers (usually those who post in broken english) that post on a thread months, if not years old. I saw one the other day somewhere in LTH That was along the lines of, Posted: 2nd June 2009 and a newbie had posted "PM Sent, Looking very forward much to your response" and it was abit "Say What?" because these lurkers blatantly pay no attention to the dates on the bloody things, which may also indicate how much attention to detail they pay generally, never mind their work.
February 10, 201016 yr Author I had a "rant" at somone about it and their excuse was so they can keep track on which topics tbey have replied to. That's a lame excuse, they could just subscribe to the topics.
February 10, 201016 yr Is there an option, which only makes the LTH forum available to view after x amount of posts? At least that way, those with some forum input get a chance to make an offer.
February 10, 201016 yr Is there an option, which only makes the LTH forum available to view after x amount of posts? At least that way, those with some forum input get a chance to make an offer. They would just spam in old topics to get their post count up though
February 10, 201016 yr I suggested awhile ago that the looking to hire be restricted to adding new posts only, so no one can reply to what is requested other than through email or PM. I know that some will disagree and say what if I had a question it would be easier for them to reply in the thread rather than multiple times. The thing is if they phones/emailed companies asking for quotes they would have to answer the same question over and over again. Plus the looking to hire mostly gets "PM sent" or "your budget is too low rants" which is also unproductive. Plus point of having it non reply means that its more of a jobs listing, meaning most recent and the top rather than whichever one was last spammed in.
February 10, 201016 yr I suggested awhile ago that the looking to hire be restricted to adding new posts only, so no one can reply to what is requested other than through email or PM. I know that some will disagree and say what if I had a question it would be easier for them to reply in the thread rather than multiple times. The thing is if they phones/emailed companies asking for quotes they would have to answer the same question over and over again. Plus the looking to hire mostly gets "PM sent" or "your budget is too low rants" which is also unproductive. Plus point of having it non reply means that its more of a jobs listing, meaning most recent and the top rather than whichever one was last spammed in. Your idea is spot on dizi, why do we need a open forum for "job listings". Any questions are asked via PM and if the client/ job poster wants to add more info like a budget, answers to questions then they can edit the job description
February 10, 201016 yr "PM sent" syndrome affects most forums with similar "Looking to hire" forums. That's just the nature of the beast! Saying that, we could restrict topics to "no replies" but that would prevent bonefide conversations about the job being advertised. Maybe a better method would be to restrict replies to established forum members, who have a reasonable post count (100 or so?). Another method would be to levvy a small subscription fee to be allowed to reply, say £5/£10 per year? Either way there's no perfect answer to the problem
February 10, 201016 yr *Raises both hands and both legs* Annoys me greatly! I just send them a PM.... They don't need to know I have... besides, they will get an email to say they have received a message from X
February 10, 201016 yr What bugs me isn't the actual "PM sent" - it's the blatant attitude of "stuff being a real member of this forum, I don't give a monkey's about anyone else, I'm just here to desperately throw myself at any available job". That's not everyone who posts "PM sent", but there are quite a few folks like that. One Indian outsourcer has only ever posted "PM sent". Now that's leaching. Thing is... "PM sent", apart from serving little purpose, is not exactly putting you in the best light to that prospective client is it? It says "Hey... you don't even warrant a full sentence". And when EVERY bloody job advertised has you popping-up in there... well, I wouldn't hire someone so obviously desperate - why aren't you busy, why aren't you selective about the jobs you look for, how committed are you going to be to my project... Nothing wrong with answering an advertised job, but for me, the 'P' in 'PM' stands for 'Private' so why not keep it that way unless you need more information?
February 11, 201016 yr PS, Maybe what Admin should do is make people have to have posted a certain amount of times before they are even allowed to view the jobs at all. It's a great idea in theory, however, people will just spam other forums to get their post counts up - such as the introductory forum. Just the other day I hit "view new posts" and there was a full page and a half of introductions that had been replied to by just one member.
February 11, 201016 yr How about making the phrase "PM sent" a banned word so it comes out as "** ****"?
February 11, 201016 yr I find it annoying, but more because it's just plain stupid. As Helen has said - the person that you've PM'd will know you have. It's also just plain rude to put "PM sent"....however, it annoys me when people reply to a text message or email with "ok"...grrrrrr. That said, the rudest thing I've seen on this forum is people asking for a free website. Get ******!!! It's just poor etiquette, but hey, it happens.
February 11, 201016 yr @ Terydinho - I draw your attention to this thread post #4 http://www.webdesignerforum.co.uk/topic/31460-designer-required/page__p__206775entry206775 So you're gonna ban yourself now? (heheh I couldn't resist)
February 11, 201016 yr Just to add my four pence worth .... I feel this section should not allow replies. If interested/questions then these should be discussed between client and provider (PM etc). This will enable the client to assess the quality of questions.
February 11, 201016 yr The "PM Sent" thing doesn't really bother me on the whole, The only thing that really irritates me is seeing dead-thread-humpers (usually those who post in broken english) that post on a thread months, if not years old. I saw one the other day somewhere in LTH That was along the lines of, Posted: 2nd June 2009 and a newbie had posted "PM Sent, Looking very forward much to your response" and it was abit "Say What?" because these lurkers blatantly pay no attention to the dates on the bloody things, which may also indicate how much attention to detail they pay generally, never mind their work. This made me laugh!!
February 11, 201016 yr Oh dear - PM Tension!! (I'll get my coat...) As mentioned a few times above, 'PM Sent' just makes someone look amateur, lazy and/or illiterate. If they think that is the first experience a potential customer should have of their business, well - stuff them!! Is it possible to only allow posts of at least a certain number of words in a specific forum? Having to string a few relevant and coherent sentences together - that would sort the men from the boys from the outsourcers! Mind you, I can guess at some of the replies: "A personal message has been sent. You will find a personal message in your personal message in-box. I hope you like your personal message. I think you will find your personal message is both personal and indeed a message in nature. Lots of hugs and kisses from your personal message sending potential web designer (and personal message sender). Have I typed enough words to press submit yet?" I know I'm hardly the most prolific poster on the forum, but to be honest I'm either too busy, a lot of the topics just don't 'float my boat', it's easy enough for someone to Google how to create a contact form (or look for the answers already on the forum) without me having to tell them, and how much I think a job is worth is my own commercial business (or look at the answers already on the forum) - or all of the above! Doesn't mean I'm secretly beavering away sending PMs to anyone looking to 'hire' though. Most threads there just don't fit my business strategy - which is basically I work and people pay me for it with legal tender!
February 11, 201016 yr "A personal message has been sent. You will find a personal message in your personal message in-box. I hope you like your personal message. I think you will find your personal message is both personal and indeed a message in nature. Lots of hugs and kisses from your personal message sending potential web designer (and personal message sender). Have I typed enough words to press submit yet?" We will see this yet, I think
February 11, 201016 yr I don't spend much time in the LTH forums, so it doesn't really bother me. I'm far more interested in the occassional JavaScript (that's not jQuery) consersation that popups up and helping anyone with something that I can. The "PM sent" spammers seem to be pretty contained to the LTH area and rarely venture out. It's almost like a lightning rod
February 17, 201016 yr ... and now it's time for the Observation Round. Did you spot the desperate web designer? Maybe PM doesn't mean private message after all!
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