Is there a limit to the number of PMs in the Inbox/Outbox?

[Daniel91]

This was a question that came to my mind the other day, considering that I have been a member of this forum for a very long time and the number of messages in my Inbox has already reached the 19th page.
I couldn't find an answer to this question with the search option, so I asked theymos directly, and I'm posting the answer here because I believe that this question is also of interest to some other members of the forum.
Theymos replied that there is no strict limit on the number of messages we can have in the inbox, but warned that the PM page will become very slow if we have more than 30 pages of PMs and suggested that it is best to prune them periodically.
He also re-shared the instructions If anyone wants an mbox dump of all of incoming/outgoing PMs.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5570043.msg66240630#msg66240630

[Upgrade00]

I will consider that to be a soft warning since I'm over the 30 page limit now but I've not noticed any slow reaction time (or maybe it's because I'm so used to how it loads now, just can't remember how it was faster  ).
Anyway, good for you to highlight that message from thermos, a lot of users including myself weren't aware of the need to export messages.

The message in the privacy page suggests that there is no exact limit as the forum permanently keeps logs of pms; "Until the sender and all recipients delete the PM, plus about 6 months"

[ryzaadit]

Checking on the internet, SMF forum actually don't have any limits for private messages inbox. But, the administrators can setup the limits by themselves.

Source:
1. https://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/SMF1.1:Features_and_Options
2. https://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Personal_messages/de

The only limit information can be found regarding private message with number are these one.

Activity	Max recipients	Max recipients if whitelisted	Max PMs per hour	Max PMs per hour if whitelisted	Max PMs per day	Max PMs per day if whitelisted
0	2	10	1	40	2	120
15	3	10	10	40	15	120
30	5	10	10	40	30	120
100	7	14	20	80	150	600
250	15	30	120	120	300	1200
500	30	30	120	120	1200	1200

You are automatically whitelisted if you buy a copper membership. You don't need to wear the copper membership, just own it. You can also be whitelisted for free by any staff member and a few non-staff, but we're going to need some reason to think that you actually deserve it. Do not ask me for free whitelisting.

Whitelisting is a not a license to spam. You will be immediately banned if you're found spamming, even if you bought a copper membership (and you will not be refunded).

[DYING_S0UL]

Personally, I have like 40-45 pages or Inbox/Outbox PM's. If we do the math it's like 1700-1800 messages combined (20 PM per page). And I have seen others saying, they have much much much higher amounts of PM's saved up.

Quoting for visibility, just look below. Man that's a lotttttt of PM we are talking about. I want to believe it has no limits. And even if it did, it's set so high that we can't reach it normally, unless we use some tools to spam the PM inbox/outbox.

I have ~1,400 pages of PMs in my inbox. I’ve learned to cope with the PM times. I have no desire to store them on my own.
I used to always delete PMs as I received them or I’m sure I’d have over 2,000 pages. Somewhere around 2016 I lost control.

Btw, after poking around a little, I found this one. This answers your question (Hopefully).

I've looked into setting that option by default, but it wasn't obvious to me how to do it. It looks like it might be difficult.

There is no PM limit.

[Cookdata]

Btw, after poking around a little, I found this one. This answers your question (Hopefully).

I've looked into setting that option by default, but it wasn't obvious to me how to do it. It looks like it might be difficult.

There is no PM limit.

Your quote is from 2012, the new New PM limits was set in 2017 after complaints about spam PMs from newbies and not setting restrictions.

[ryzaadit]

Your quote is from 2012, the new New PM limits was set in 2017 after complaints about spam PMs from newbies and not setting restrictions.

Those are the limit number of recipients (multiple users) you can put for sending a PM at once.

The question are the limits inbox message are being stored in your inbox. SMF has default settings (0) for the inbox message in private messages, which is no-limits. Administrators can set up the limits, but theymos mostly set these to the default (no limits).

It's just a little bit slow to load if you own 30 pages in your inbox.

[DYING_S0UL]

Btw, after poking around a little, I found this one. This answers your question (Hopefully).

I've looked into setting that option by default, but it wasn't obvious to me how to do it. It looks like it might be difficult.

There is no PM limit.

Your quote is from 2012, the new New PM limits was set in 2017 after complaints about spam PMs from newbies and not setting restrictions.

I believe you may have misunderstood what OP was referring to. The topic you gave me explains how many PM a person can send (per hour/day, or max after getting white listed). It's sending limit!

What OP was asking, how many pages of PM a user can have or hold/save/store before it needs to pruned/deleted, in order for new PM to send/receive.
For example, I have 45+ pages of Outbox PM's. And he wanted to know, whether there was any limit to that. So he asked admin and he gave him an answer and which he was sharing in this thread. It's holding/storing limit!

It's just a little bit slow to load if you own 30 pages in your inbox.

From my own experience, I have never really felt any slowness. I have more than 30 pages of PM's!  

[Lucius]

This was a question that came to my mind the other day, considering that I have been a member of this forum for a very long time and the number of messages in my Inbox has already reached the 19th page.
~snip~

Let's say I'm close to 100 pages, so you don't have to worry about your limits. I also didn't notice any problems with the loading speed - as far as I can remember, nothing has changed since I had only 10 pages until today.

[Catenaccio]

He also re-shared the instructions If anyone wants an mbox dump of all of incoming/outgoing PMs.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5570043.msg66240630#msg66240630

If you want to get all your PMs (inbox and outbox), you can try TryNinja's user script or LoyceV's PM publisher.

TryNinja's user script
https://gist.github.com/ninjastic/bc568895778132e1414564147d3a9aaf

LoyceV's PM Publisher's description.

[MarryWithBTC]

This was a question that came to my mind the other day, considering that I have been a member of this forum for a very long time and the number of messages in my Inbox has already reached the 19th page.

If your inbox has reached 19 pages, I imagine what icopress or other managers inbox will look like. I believe they receive the most amount of messages in the forum.

Since they don't complain, it means things will still be working well after even after 200th page.

[icopress]

Since they don't complain, it means things will still be working well after even after 200th page.

After page 500 everything works fine.

[Mia Chloe]

~snip

Now that you mentioned I just checked my PMs and it's already at page 29.  Have I gotten any lag when trying to load any? Well none that I can remember. The difference in load speed is very small and chances have it that you may not even notice it. Probably it could get more obvious if you constantly try to visit different old pages.

I guess the load speed he was probably referring to is just a couple extra seconds. Yahoo made some statements about his PMs too and even with that much PM he has I don't think the wait time is unbearable.

[MarryWithBTC]

~snip

Now that you mentioned I just checked my PMs and it's already at page 29.  Have I gotten any lag when trying to load any? Well none that I can remember. The difference in load speed is very small and chances have it that you may not even notice it. Probably it could get more obvious if you constantly try to visit different old pages.

I guess the load speed he was probably referring to is just a couple extra seconds. Yahoo made some statements about his PMs too and even with that much PM he has I don't think the wait time is unbearable.

Just above your post, ico mentioned that above 500 pages, everything still works fine. I don't think there's much to bother here. Op created the thread out of curiosity and not that they were facing a serious pm loading issue.

About theymos post of pm loading becoming really slow after 30 pages, and suggesting umboxing, he was probably trying to help the server. Just as he wouldn't recommend clicking "load all pages" when you are in a 7k+ pages thread

[Daniel91]

~snip

Now that you mentioned I just checked my PMs and it's already at page 29.  Have I gotten any lag when trying to load any? Well none that I can remember. The difference in load speed is very small and chances have it that you may not even notice it. Probably it could get more obvious if you constantly try to visit different old pages.

I guess the load speed he was probably referring to is just a couple extra seconds. Yahoo made some statements about his PMs too and even with that much PM he has I don't think the wait time is unbearable.

Just above your post, ico mentioned that above 500 pages, everything still works fine. I don't think there's much to bother here. Op created the thread out of curiosity and not that they were facing a serious pm loading issue.

About theymos post of pm loading becoming really slow after 30 pages, and suggesting umboxing, he was probably trying to help the server. Just as he wouldn't recommend clicking "load all pages" when you are in a 7k+ pages thread

Yes, that's right. Currently I have no problems with loading PMs and based on the reports of other members, who have a lot more messages, like icopress, I see that this will not be a problem in the future either.
With that, I got the answer to my main question, but considering that some other useful information for members appeared in the thread, such as the suggestion to use TryNinja's user script or LoyceV's PM publisher to get PMs, I think that this discussion is still useful for forum members, so I will leave this thread open.

[hugeblack]

I have about ~ 100 pages of PMs and everything is working fine, I don't know if you misinterpreted @Theymos's words or if "too slow" is too fast to feel.
In general, it is difficult to keep track PMs conversations so it is not a good way to communicate.

[LoyceV]

my Inbox has already reached the 19th page.

I'm at 289 pages. You'll be fine for quite a while

Theymos ~ warned that the PM page will become very slow if we have more than 30 pages of PMs

It used to get slow indeed, but there was an update (about a year ago) that made it much better. It loads in about 1 second.

LoyceV's PM Publisher's description.

That's not my PM Publisher, and if you would have read that post, you would have seen this:

hypothetical ~ I think I shouldn't bother creating this.

some other useful information for members appeared in the thread, such as the suggestion to use ~ LoyceV's PM publisher to get PMs

Don't believe everything you read online. Verify, don't trust.