Messaging

Private conversations with other members.

Groups hold discussion that the group can read. Messaging holds your private conversations with other members. This page covers where the section is, what the conversation list shows you, and what you get inside an open conversation.

Where Messaging Lives

• Messaging sits in the left sidebar of your dashboard, between Groups and Events. Go by the word, not the icon — Groups directly above it has a speech bubble too. If it is not there, ask whoever administers your site.
• Like Groups, it can carry a number beside it when something is waiting for you.
• The section itself is headed Messages.

Your Conversation List

Messages opens on a list of your conversations, one row each. A row shows:

• The name of the member you are talking to.
• When the last message arrived — recent ones read like yesterday or 5d ago, older ones as a date like Sep 11.
• The last message, so you can see where the conversation got to without opening it.

When the last message in a conversation was yours, the preview begins with You: — that is how you tell at a glance whether the other person has written back or the ball is still with them. A row like that can also carry a double tick.

A search box sits over the list, with the words Search messages in it until you type.

On a wide screen the space beside the list stays blank, reading Select a conversation, until you click a row.

When You Have No Conversations

Until you have a conversation, the list is replaced by a short empty state:

• No conversations yet
• Under it: "Start a conversation with another member — you can also message someone from their profile."
• A New message button of its own, below that line.

Starting a Conversation

There are two ways in, and the empty state names both.

1. Click New message — the button above the conversation list.
2. A box opens with a member search, reading Search for a member... Find the person you want.
3. Click Start conversation. (Cancel closes the box without starting one.)

The other way is from the person: open their profile and click Message.

Inside a Conversation

Click a row to open it. The other member's name sits at the top of the conversation and is a link to their profile. Below it the messages run in order, each carrying when it was sent.

With a conversation open the list is still there, so you can move from one to the next. On a phone the conversation fills the screen and the back arrow at the top left returns you to the list.

Writing a Message

The composer sits under the conversation. It is a rich-text editor with a toolbar, so a message can be more than a line of plain text. The buttons show a letter or a symbol rather than a word — rest on one and its name appears:

Click Send to send the message.

Reactions, Edits and Deletions

Every message in the conversation — yours and theirs — has its own Add reaction button: a small smiling face with a plus sign. Click it and a row of seven appears — 👍 👎 ❤️ 😮 😢 😂 😡 — the same seven you get on a group post. Pick one and it shows under the message.

Your own messages also carry Edit and Delete. Messages the other member wrote do not, so you can correct or remove what you sent and nothing of theirs.

Knowing a Message Was Read

Under your own message, once it has been read, a line appears reading Seen and when — for example Seen · yesterday.

A row in the conversation list whose last message is yours can also carry a double tick. What that tick means is not spelled out on screen, so go by the Seen line inside the conversation.