Are Private Messages (PMs) really private?

[dmmcintyre3]

There may be vBulletin plug-ins that would allow admins/mods to read them, but we do not have any installed and I can't imagine a circumstance in which we'd want to install one.

I know there is a plugin for this but I think it is unethical to use one.

 

[SpaceKitty]

I use to be an admin on a forum and I know there were vBulletin hacks that allowed the admins to read private messages from their admin panel. I also know they can be read from the data base.