Is it possible by means of this site to send a private message to a forum member?

I visit another site/forum, where this feature is enabled and very often used btw.

Of course, you may do as you please, but have you at least considered some other avatar? >

Once I deleted the kibitzes it pushed them all through:

<Congratulations, a new tournament has been created! Review here: Dortmund Sparkassen (2000)

Congratulations, a new tournament has been created! Review here: Linares (2001)

Congratulations, a new tournament has been created! Review here: Linares (2002)>

There is, what we call "Chessgames Editors".

You see, some members of the site, like Tabanus above, are members of a core group of volunteers who go around making tiny fixes (sometimes major fixes) to erroneous data. They also compose biographies / tournament write-ups for players and tournament pages.

The requirements to become an editor is (1) you have to ask us politely via email, and (2) you have to read Chessgames Editor Guide.

You don't have to work tirelessly like it's a second job (although some people do) — you can do as much or as little as you're comfortable with. Some people specialize in various aspects. We have grammarians, historians, fact-checkers, experts on old periodicals, and more.

This topic has been brought up several times. I personally am in favor of it, because it's simply a core feature of most communities. Nevertheless, the few times it was brought up on this forum, the majority of users spoke out against it.

Not to put words in anybody's mouth, the main objection were: 1. discussion that should take place in the open will be hidden in the personal-message system, 2. trolls/dissidents will abuse the feature by harassing and taunting other members, opening up an entirely new type of infraction, 3. sooner or later spammers will figure out how to use it.

Ignored users wouldn't be able to send a PM to whoever is ignoring them. That could solve one problem. As for the other objections, it's weird. This is a regular part of the entire internet. I can't think of another site like this that doesn't have the PM feature.

I know it wasn't directed to me, but if you do wish to contact someone privately (and for good intents), this is what one member did to me once:

They, using their email decided to email <cg> and ask that their message be forwarded toward my email (they also included their email in the message). They did that, I responded to their email, and then it took off from there.

An alternate way is to simply post your email (or Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and ask that the person you want to PM to send you messages toward that account.

The obvious flaw is that anyone can secretly do it, and you won't be able to tell who's who.

The pm system at timezone.com works perfectly and without the risks sketched by the CG responder. Have never heard of any violation of that system. I fully understand the reservations, but I think it can be done, albeit not easily.

I hope you CG gentlemen will find a way to do it - I reckon you agree with me that it would be a great thing for CG if it could be implemented safely.

And yes, I've played go-between on a few occasions, but I don't always like it. It puts me in an uncomfortable position when, for example, somebody has a business proposition for a famous GM. I pass the emails on as a professional courtesy, but I can't help thinking that many of these people are cranks.

I actually have a half-developed system for PMs within Chessgames written years ago. I should review the code and see how much work it would take it getting working. But has the sentiment truly changed?