I am a moderator on a large legal forum....
I discussed this with one of the lawyers there. He revealed that if they decide, forum administrators can read all PM's that go thru their site and can block members from posting their email addresses there....He said that it is sometimes done to prevent the members from taking the discussion beyond the boundry and control of the forum owners. He explained that a forum is private property and all members must accept the terms when they sign up, so it is legal.
What does this mean to you? It means that you need to be careful when using PM on any forum. Private Messaging inside a forum is not really private like your email.
!..... Now everyone here is gonna go back and read everything you ever PM'd to make sure you haven't embarrassed yourself.......Just like I did recently.
Ok, now that you are aware of this, does it change your perspective of KaraokeScene?
I hope not. This board has evolved into a very special place where lots of good folks have made great friends and done lots to promote karaoke.
If you are concerned that the administration of any forum is violating your privacy and trust, then I suggest you contact them personally and make your concerns and desires known.
I'm sure the owners here have a reason for blocking our email addys in PM. Perhaps they will disable this feature if you ask politely.
If not, it's their forum and they pay the bandwith costs and suffer the liability of what we do here....So it's their rightful choice to run things like they decide.