Can moderators and admins see PMs?

[mike369]

Hello,
On a forum I go to I heard that admins and moderators can see Private Messages. I was admin of a Vbulletin last year and there was no way to see them. This was before the 2007 version came out. Can they see PMs? You would think that a Private Message should be between who is talking, not all the staff to be able to see..... If their is a problem then forward it to staff. Can anyone help?
Thanks in advance
Mike

[Link00seven]

I don't know about vBulletin since i've never checked, but I know with phpBB you can view other PM's by viewing the database directly within phpMyAdmin. It wasn't organized well, but the text was there.

[Bema Jinn]

Without the aide of a hack, only the admin who has access to the server database can see PM's.

Although most admins frown on this and respect people's privacy, there are some out there who don't.

(at least this was the case in vB RC3, not used it since)

[Joe Gronlund]

This was before the 2007 version came out.

2007 version??

You need a hack available at vbulletin.org to see PM's..

Not necessarily a invasion of privacy as it can be used on people you suspect are soliciting, or causes problems via PM's...

[mike369]

2007 version??

You need a hack available at vbulletin.org to see PM's..

Not necessarily a invasion of privacy as it can be used on people you suspect are soliciting, or causes problems via PM's...

i dont know what the newest version is called...... If someone is soliciting then just PM a mod and ask them.... I just had someone do it to me and they took care of it! ok thanks!

[Joe Gronlund]

i dont know what the newest version is called...... If someone is soliciting then just PM a mod and ask them.... I just had someone do it to me and they took care of it! ok thanks!

3.6.4

Released, Nov 22nd 2006,

Alot of people dont bother PMing a Mod or Admin, when receiving unwanted PM's on Bulletin Boards

[Sergio68]

Hello,
On a forum I go to I heard that admins and moderators can see Private Messages. I was admin of a Vbulletin last year and there was no way to see them. This was before the 2007 version came out. Can they see PMs? You would think that a Private Message should be between who is talking, not all the staff to be able to see..... If their is a problem then forward it to staff. Can anyone help?
Thanks in advance
Mike

They shouldn't, but they can if they look directly into the MySql data base. Most properly a mod or a forum admin can't but the server admin can.
The only think he cannot see is your password becouse is md5 cripted. (but they can use it anyway by changing their cookies)

[filburt1]

MD5 hashing != encrypting. Given an MD5 hash, it is not possible to revert that string back to the original string, so it is not encryption.

But yes, it's still possible to change anybody's password, just not view it.