Explaining the settings for who can send you private messages

[pne]

For a recent support request, I wanted to explain the different security level settings for who can send you private messages, and looked for an appropriate FAQ, but didn't find one.

FAQ 270 mentions where to change this setting but doesn't explain what they do -- compare FAQ 23 on comment settings which is more explicit.

How about something

Comments

[jai_dit]

I'd been meaning to post something like this for quite a while. Thank you for beating me to it!

I think it should probably include something along the lines of "why can't people send me messages", since that question gets asked *a lot* (people don't realize that if they have their messages set to FO, but send a message to someone not on their friends list, that person won't be able to respond, for instance). Now that I think about it, that may be getting outside the scope of "how do I contact people on LJ". Then again, it may not be worth its own FAQ.

Thoughts?

[pne]

I think it should probably include something along the lines of "why can't people send me messages", since that question gets asked *a lot* (people don't realize that if they have their messages set to FO, but send a message to someone not on their friends list, that person won't be able to respond, for instance).

Another misconception I've seen is people trying to switch their journal to Friends Only by choosing that option from the comment or message setting... they saw the magic words "Friends Only" and go "oh yay, that's what I want".

[pne]

people don't realize that if they have their messages set to FO, but send a message to someone not on their friends list, that person won't be able to respond, for instance

Oh, hadn't thought about that, but yes, I agree that that warrants a mention.

How about this?

Your Inbox is also where you send and receive private messages from other LiveJournal users. Writing a new message to another LiveJournal user is as simple as clicking the "New Message" button and filling out the form. Be aware that if you restrict who can send you messages, that user may not be able to reply to your message.

You can restrict who can send you messages at ...

Which even fits in fairly well with the flow IMO since the bit on restricting comes immediately afterwards.

[jai_dit]

Ooh, yes.

[the_cynic]

And as long as we're clearing up misconceptions, would it be possible to somewhere in the revised FAQ mention that the "send a message" link only appears in other peoples' profiles since you can't send yourself a message?

Not sure where it would fit in the flow, if at all.