Understanding the forum's privacy settings

[peregrino_tom]

I realise that after more than 12 years here I really should know this but, I haven't used the forum to start private conversations before, so I need to check. Also I think some other folks haven't quite grasped how it all works, so here goes:
1. When someone says 'I'll PM you' what they mean in forum-speak (as per the settings page) is that they'll start a 'conversation'. And to start this they click on the little envelope in the blue navigation bar at the top. This is always a private conversation between the people who are invited to it, and it can't be seen by anyone else. It doesn't matter whether one person in the conversation has all their privacy settings open and another has them all closed, the conversation still stays private to the people invited to it. Yes?
2. When you go into a person's profile page, if that person has left that page open for viewing (by all, members or just followers) then either all, members or followers can see any messages posted there. I think some members confuse this with 'starting a conversation' and don't realise how open it can be. The person posting there might have all their settings locked down, but not realise that posting to the profile page of someone who has all their settings open will make that message viewable by all. Yes?
Please add anything material that I have missed.
Many thanks, tom

 

[wayfarer]

You have pretty much nailed it Tom.

 

[C clearly]

Also, since we are on the topic...
"Conversations" are private. They can only be read by the participants, unless one of those participants "Reports" a post. In that case, only the reported post (not the whole thread) can be read by moderators.