This sets out the background, limits introduced in summer 2022 and changes to the private message (PM) function implemented in autumn 2022.
Background: There were complaints from users being pounced on repeatedly by a few predators. Quite a number of women registered but found this behaviour off-putting so left again, giving this continued harassment as the main reason. This behaviour breaches the Pool rule that you must respect others and their limits which includes that, if your PM requests are unwelcome and not accepted, you may not keep asking again (either now or next time). 'No' means 'no'.
Limits introduced: To protect users, changes were made in summer 2022 that could be implemented quickly. These introduced limits on PM requests to wait 5 minutes before the next request after two in a row and disabled further requests for those ignored by two or more other users because of their behaviour. Initially, users were silenced automatically to stop further requests but, after more development, Request PM was disabled instead so users are no longer silenced. A new feature was introduced for users to Block PM from specific users in their profile, which stops you seeing just their PM requests, as an alternative to Ignore them, which stops you seeing all their posts, including their chat in Main. These features were initially limited to the current session or login again within 30 minutes.
Changes to PM: From 20 September 2022, information on PM requests, Block PM and Ignore is now stored and kept across logins and sessions. Request information is deleted on PM acceptance so which users do chat privately is not kept. If you Block PM from or Ignore someone, that now applies every time you log in until and unless you change this on their or your profile. Now information is stored, the limit on PM requests not accepted has been increased from three to four, as users can protect themselves. Once you reach the limit in a session you cannot request any more PMs in that session or if you log in again within 30 minutes. You may also only ask each user to PM up to this limit without answer and subsequent requests will not be passed on to stop harassment. Accepted PMs reset both limits, so they will not affect normal use, only those preying on others whose requests are unwelcome.