Fair enough. But from personal experience I can say that Itch loses a lot for not having this ability to privately communicate between creators/sellers, to form friendly and working relationships.
I can only compare it to DeviantArt -- which is an art gallery site, but it features both private messages and a forum, encouraging collaboration between artists.
In the old days, there were a lot of creative community sites like this: Elfwood, DeviantArt, Voice Acting Alliance... They all had private messaging, as well as forums and comments. You could contact any fellow creator on the site (on DA, the only surviving one of these big three, you still can), and help each other and form creative working relationships. I see Itch as such a site/community, too.
I understand the current restraints, I just think Itch is losing something valuable because of those restraints. Everyone is kept isolated from each other, and doing things for themselves. This limits level of creativity and creative production on the platform. But that's just my two cents. I understand what you're saying. Ultimately, it's up to the management to decide if it's worth upscaling or not, and what they want the user experience and community to be like.
Rezzy
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Yeah, but we already have this with the forums. Should we not have the forums either? There's virtually no difference between the two. Direct messages are not private messages. They're publically shared conversations between two or more users. They're just not made accessible to everyone online by default -- that's the only thing that makes them "private". No private information should ever be entered into these messages -- just as you wouldn't post any private information on the forums.
And if you treat them like that -- with everyone well aware that these are not really private in the full sense -- then what's the high maintenance?
You're not doing anything more than the forums. You're just allowing people to talk to each other directly, as opposed to having to post every conversation between each other for everyone to see out there.
These laws apply on a government level to any website that has users. If the concern is that users may use the private messaging feature to disclose truly private information to each other, then that's easily solved:
Make it part of the website's terms and condition of using the direct messaging feature that this feature is used at the user's discretion, and make a prominent statement upon its launch and on the website that this feature is not meant to be used for sharing private information, and that you won't be held legally accountable for any private information shared here.
The point of this feature is not that it allows users to share private information with each other, but that it allows users to communicate with each other directly, without the need to post their conversation public for everyone to see. It is only private in the sense that it is not a conversation out there for everyone to see. It's not private in the full sense. And this needs to be stated clearly for all users to see.
I think people get confused when the word "private" is used online. Nothing you post online is private. It's all public. The difference is only where it gets shared.
I don't see how this is any different to having access to the forums. Why would it be a "moderation and privacy nightmare"? (See my notes below.)
Unless the current moderation for the forums is already too much of a challenge. Private messages are posts, too, as far as moderation is concerned. They can be shared with moderators when reported. And the same policies and user treatment apply for the most part. An offending user can be warned, then banned.
It's no different to using the forums. The only difference is that users can talk to each other without everyone having to ogle their posts.
But you still do not see, that there is no such thing as private messages on a website. They have to have moderators to intervene. They are accountable, if they do not act upon reports.
Not true. While it's true that private messages online are never really private, moderators do not actually have to read and intervene in users' private messages unless they need to determine if a website/community rule is being broken (the same as on the bulletin board). The website is legally and morally accountable only for its rules/policies.
If you give users the choice to stop receiving messages from another user, or to opt out of the messaging system altogether, then you can easily define in the user agreement that the private messaging feature is to be used at the user's own responsibility, and at their discretion/control/choice. The moderators are not to be held legally accountable for private user interaction, and the content of user messages.
You make the whole thing safe as a community for everyone by including the private messaging feature in the same moderation policy that the rest of the website is in: meaning that if a private message is reported as breaking the rules, it can be easily sent to and reviewed by the moderation team (the same as a forum post). This makes things transparent.
And, just as with the forum posts, the user risks a ban of their account for repeatedly breaking the rules, even after a warning. So they can no more abuse the private messaging feature than they can abuse posting on the forums.
The private messages actually require very little moderation. They're an extension of the bulletin board, essentially.
So long as the user has control over the feature, there's very little need to moderate.
You don't solve harassment by censoring free speech. By not including this feature, you're not just stopping users from being harassed, you're also stopping users from being able to nicely talk to each other and form friendships and affiliate relationships. It makes Itch a cold-cold, competitive commercial place, not a friendly community.
I can't send a gift to a fellow seller on Itch with a private message, for example. I can't make someone's day. And the same way, I can't receive a gift either with a nice message from someone. Or talk to someone about doing a joint promotion, or just share our experiences.
Ultimately your choice, but I thought I'd draw attention to this. I'm not the only person who feels this lack of warmth on Itch.
There are ways to create a private messaging system where the user has full control over who can contact them, and can stop unwanted users from contacting them in a private message. If you give users the control over their own private messaging life, then there's no need for moderation, really (except for following the main rules of the website/community -- the moderation that is already in place).
Sure, with more freedom comes more responsibility, and more social dynamics, but stopping people from being able to cater to their needs and express themselves is not a solution, either. You need to find a working balance -- to create a communication system that keeps users in control and safe, and that doesn't require heavy moderation, but that allows them to tend to their needs and to openly communicate with each other, even in private if they feel the need to.
What would be the harm in implementing a basic "send a private message/letter/notice" feature to a user on Itch, where they have the option to:
- Opt to stop receiving messages from this user in the future.
- Opt out of the private messaging system altogether (effectively turning the feature off for their account).
- Report a problematic user, who is breaking the rules of the website/community.
Thanks for reaching out for confirmation before buying -- smart move! 😸
They are mine, legally. They were created by Owen as work-for-hire for a creative project I now hold the exclusive author's rights to. Which means I have legal ownership over these artworks, and I have the legal right to define the terms and grant further licensing to them.
The licensing terms for these artworks are clearly defined in the "Terms" section of the description above (and included with the downloaded package). You are free to edit them and use them even commercially after purchase, but not to redistribute or resell them on their own. They need to be adapted and integrated as components of a new creative work, and distributed or sold as such (for example a video game, or a visual novel).
Owen created these artworks, originally, and I would really appreciate it if you credited him for his beautiful work (and me for maintaining/updating them), but this is not legally required.
Hope you enjoy using them for your creative projects. 💖 And I hope they inspire you to keep on creating.
Both Owen and I are glad to see them put to good use. If you do create something cool with them, be sure to share it here. We'd love to see it. 🤗