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Those who want to be contacted should probably just leave their email address or preferred method of contact. It takes just as much effort to use an email clien

Those who want to be contacted should probably just leave their email address or preferred method of contact. It takes just as much effort to use an email client as does using a messaging system; the only difference is one would be checked on a regular basis, the other, not so much. Plus, as mentioned, people don't want yet another inbox to check. For those who don't drop a link to their homepage or list their email address, I just assume they're not interested in communication.

dschobel 17y ago
You can make the inverse argument that people not interested in a messaging system could just not use it while giving those who want it the context + convenience of a native message box.
- mattwdelong 17y ago
  True. The option to turn it off would be very nice, if not essential for a lot of people. But I am just pointing out the fact that I have missed opportunities because of messaging systems on other sites. I would have responded almost immediately had the same message came to me in the form of email. Its the result of me forgetting to check 20 different messaging systems I have on various forums/communities - there are just so many to check, and I can't check them all each day and thus some get ignored. I guess to each there own, but on another note maybe someone wants to solve this "checking in on message systems of online communities" problem. Could be the disqus.com of messaging systems.
NathanKP 17y ago
I would add my email address to my profile if there was some way to build in spam protection such as re-Captcha's mail hide tool: http://mailhide.recaptcha.net/ http://mailhide.recaptcha.net/
- jhancock 17y ago
  My primary email address and several secondary addresses are public in easy to find spots on the web, including my HN profile. All these addresses use gmail and I am not having a problem with spam.
- mikexstudios 17y ago
  reCAPTCHA's mailhide can generate a URL that the user can visit to obtain your email address. Perhaps you can post that URL in your profile. It's long and ugly though.

dschobel 17y ago

You can make the inverse argument that people not interested in a messaging system could just not use it while giving those who want it the context + convenience of a native message box.

mattwdelong 17y ago
True. The option to turn it off would be very nice, if not essential for a lot of people. But I am just pointing out the fact that I have missed opportunities because of messaging systems on other sites. I would have responded almost immediately had the same message came to me in the form of email. Its the result of me forgetting to check 20 different messaging systems I have on various forums/communities - there are just so many to check, and I can't check them all each day and thus some get ignored. I guess to each there own, but on another note maybe someone wants to solve this "checking in on message systems of online communities" problem. Could be the disqus.com of messaging systems.

NathanKP 17y ago

I would add my email address to my profile if there was some way to build in spam protection such as re-Captcha's mail hide tool: http://mailhide.recaptcha.net/ http://mailhide.recaptcha.net/

jhancock 17y ago
My primary email address and several secondary addresses are public in easy to find spots on the web, including my HN profile. All these addresses use gmail and I am not having a problem with spam.
mikexstudios 17y ago
reCAPTCHA's mailhide can generate a URL that the user can visit to obtain your email address. Perhaps you can post that URL in your profile. It's long and ugly though.