A lot of members use the PM system and then find that the PM stays in their Outbox and they think it hasn't been sent. However, it is on the server waiting for the other person to read it.

A PM is always recorded in the Outbox until the other person has read it, then it shows in the sender's Sent box when he next refreshes or logs in. I strongly advise members to use Email as most people read their emails every day, but a PM may lie on the server until the other person logs in and reads it, which might be days or weeks.

PMs work best on a very busy forum where posts are coming thick and fast to the public forum but two members want a private discussion on the side, perhaps about money or to argue "You're wrong", "No, I know I'm right" and so on. PMs work well if both members are logged in at the same time, and they each watch for the little red icon notification at the top right of a page. PMs don't go all round the world like emails and need to be read in a different application, they just go to the forum server and back again so they can be quicker if both members are logged in.

Very good point John, just to demonstrate the validity, prompted by your post I logged on and there at the top of the page was a PM which I had not spotted. When I opened it I found it was sent to me in October last year. (my apologies to George)

The PM notification is small and in a place which does not jump out at you, rightly or wrongly for personal reasons I don't auto log on and do so manually, I don't always log on when I read the forum I only do so when I want to reply to a subject. Syd

[ Alan W's login problem has been moved to viewtopic.php?f=16&p=37842#p37842 ]