Expansion of PM box

[aethelbert]

I use the marketplace here to an extent which is probably more than my fair share, and naturally, PM is the preferred method of communication. With some transactions having 20+ messages going each way to the person that actually buys something (not to mention the others showing interest and asking questions), the box fills up fast. I'm often finding myself looking for something in the inbox or sent folder to find out that I had to delete it for space. I've seen limits on vb go as high as 500, so could we get a boost here? I'm not saying that it needs to be that high, but 150 doesn't give me much room to look back into the past. I can't imagine that it would take up all that much space seeing as most people probably don't use it to such an extent (and the fact that it's just text).

Thanks for your consideration.

[EricNau]

If you turn on email notification a copy of each PM is emailed to you. Might be a good way to keep an archive of old PMs.

[Doctor Q]

Do you save your messages at all, akonradi?

It takes only two clicks if you want to save a local copy of one, some, or all messages. On your Inbox page (http://forums.macrumors.com/private.php) or the page for any other folder, select the messages you want (or the box at the top to select all on the page) and click Download all Private Messages as XML or Download all Private Messages as CSV or Download all Private Messages as Text at the bottom of the page.

Best of all, once you download them you can use Spotlight on the files!

Spotlight also works on the emailed copies that EricNau mentioned you can have.

[aethelbert]

Do you save your messages at all, akonradi?

It takes only two clicks if you want to save a local copy of one, some, or all messages. On your Inbox page (http://forums.macrumors.com/private.php) or the page for any other folder, select the messages you want (or the box at the top to select all on the page) and click Download all Private Messages as XML or Download all Private Messages as CSV or Download all Private Messages as Text at the bottom of the page.

Best of all, once you download them you can use Spotlight on the files!

Spotlight also works on the emailed copies that EricNau mentioned you can have.
I do indeed save them to my personal computers, but I am often left to access this site from computers that are not mine (library, work, etc) or through my phone.

[RedTomato]

all PMs are also sent to me in email, then they go into the bottomless depths of my email storage.

Mail.app has a very good find. I also have it set to auto-filter all emails from MR into an MR PM email folder, which helps. (look in preferences / rules)

[Eraserhead]

A boost for avatar members (who are much more likely to get lots of PM's) or Demis would be nice IMO.

[Duff-Man]

Duff-Man says...personally, I think the amount of pm's allotted is just fine and as the marketplace is not the primary reason for the forums in the first place I don't think it's a very valid reason for asking for more (and using more server resources).

Now, maybe if those that really think they need more had the option to *pay* for more it'd be a way around the set limit, but then that just adds more to the admin work etc....oh yeah!

[drewsof07]

Personally I use a smart mailbox for my MacRumors PMs to keep them all organized. It works for me, because I can keep track of who I completed transactions with.

[aethelbert]

Personally I use a smart mailbox for my MacRumors PMs to keep them all organized. It works for me, because I can keep track of who I completed transactions with.
As mentioned above, I do save them on my computer, but due to the nature of my life and job, I am often left to use other computers/phones/etc. There is very little that I can do in those cases aside from check them on the forum site. I have many PMs not involved with the marketplace with just random tangent conversations as well. It's not a huge deal to me, but it does become quite annoying when I can't find what I need to find lat a later time because it had to be deleted.

[drewsof07]

In that case, I would recommend migrating to a webmail client that also supports POP for Mail.app (Gmail is one). That would provide identical copies on your home computer and the webmail for when you're not at home.
I can't change the way MR handles PMs but I can throw out ideas that might be helpful in the meantime :o

[aethelbert]

In that case, I would recommend migrating to a webmail client that also supports POP for Mail.app (Gmail is one). That would provide identical copies on your home computer and the webmail for when you're not at home.
I actually already do that, but the search function (if even available) often makes messages difficult to find since all of the messages have the same subject line. Without remembering an exact line from the PM, finding something can be hard. This isn't a super necessity; I already back them up but often I have no way of accessing them. It seems that the request already got rejected, so this thread can probably just die now.

[alphaod]

I've been using the PM system a lot, so my box gets filled up quite quickly. After a few months, I have to go back and dump the old ones. Sometimes I do a transaction or I say something and I want to be able to go back and reference them; I can't do that if I have to delete everything over a few months old.

Is it possible to increase this to say 250 PMs instead of just 150? Maybe increase it with post count or over time? I wouldn't mind either… I'd even pay more for membership for this small convenience.

Regards.