This falls in to the "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" mantra or the Sgt Shultz corollary "I see nothing, I hear nothing, I know nothing". If both parties of the Private Message follow those dictates, no problem. If one party doesn't follow those dictates, your dick is left swinging in the wind. One more "rule" to follow-- doveryai no proveryai (trust but verify). Trust the other person on the other end of a PM with a grain of salt. Don't go revealing info that you don't want to be public unless you really, really trust the other person.
Originally Posted by Cpalmson
This is it!
For this forum and any other SHMB
Rules are just rules and they will be broken.
PM is nothing more than a convenient way of sending messages to other members. It saves us the trouble of putting our anonymous/hobby email (which we all should have) our sig lines.
There is another human being on the other end of the PM that will do with it what he chooses. There's no magic encryption of the other end that guarantees it remains private.
You should exercise the same caution you would in any other direct message you would send to that member. How well do you know him? What is his post history? Does substance of his posts suggest he will exercise discretion? Do you have a history of corresponding and sharing information with him, etc. etc. etc.
That this is even a discussion is somewhat amusing.