I am a member of another forum running on the same board (i.e. vBulletin and the same version).

When I am about to PM a member there, there is a red warning above the PM title input an message box that says PMs are permanently logged and can be viewed by super mods and admins.

I think that viewing by super mods and admins is just a feature of vB that the root admin of the forum can either implement or not.

So back to the question: Do super moderators have the power to view members' private messages?

I am about to search it at Google but I think asking here won't hurt.

Thanks.

 

Nope, I wouldn't want to anyhow. I am a strong believer in privacy. I was banned by a bot on another forum for recommending a second forum, not knowing the two sites had a personal thing with each other. I still recommend both forums, but I don't go there much anymore.

 

It doesn't hurt at all.

No, the super moderators cannot see the PMs members exchange with each other.

What is more, reported PMs are not sent to the super moderators, they are probably sent directly to the administrators.

 

But do the administrators have the power to read the private messages?

 

Yep, but he is busy with real life, so they are safe.

Fact is, no one cares as long as you are no abusive, and maybe not even then.

 

Hmmm. But he cannot share it with other people right as it is against the privacy?

 

There's no such term in the Terms of Service, so one can physically do it and not held accountable for it.
But there's nothing he can do to prove it is an authentic PM.

 

The only reason I can think of to retrieve and read a PM is for a liability issue ... assuming they are stored somewhere.

You have a limited in box and out box. I would recommend you delete the PMs that are no longer required.

I know even if I were an administrator, I would not routinely peruse private messages. Under a subpoena, would be a different story and I would be "upset" if I had to retrieve and turn them over, and I would be recommending everyone delete PMs that are no longer active.

I write so few PMs that I only visit that area every few months ... and delete the old PMs from both the in and out box.

 

I only delete PMs when I have to, every two years or so it fills up. I go through, pick the ones that have information I want to keep, and delete the rest.

Of course, a common mistake many make is delete means gone forever. This is usually not the case, as it is in an archive somewhere. Such is the nature of modern data storage.