So to put it simply – you are saying that people who have opted put of PMs still show up in the autocomplete user drop down list for selecting recipients. Is that correct? If so that is a bug. If not – then how?

Yes, that is correct. They still show up under the autocomplete user drop down list.

One additional note: as mentioned I also received the new message email notification though I’d unchecked that option in my profile.

We will investigate but initial tests I have just carried out fail to replicate the problem. I certainly am unable to PM anyone who has opted out.

Could you set your own profile here to opt out of the Pm system please so that I can take a look at the member list generated for PMs…?

Done. I’ve set PMs to opt out and also unchecked email notifications for new PMs.

…mmm. As expected – I can not send you a PM. Your name does not come up in the members list and also the PM button on your posts is now not shown. You are still experiencing some very odd and unique behaviour on your site which I am not sure I can explain.

I will talk this over with Steve (Mr Papa) who wrote that PM routine to see if he has any ideas of how it might be able to be circumvented – looking at the code it looks sound…

Well, I can definitely confirm that the PM button is gone, under the forum as well as member list etc. I also don’t see the inbox on my side anymore.

Would this possibly have anything to do with me being an administrator?

Right, just tested that theory. If I opt out with my regular member (student) account then I am no longer in the drop down list. But apparently as an admin I am still being pulled into that list.

Well that is something I CAN look for! Can not see quickly where that is happening in the query but will track that down… thanks for the debug.

Suspect that is right. But of fringe case and frankly never asked for before – most admins want to be accessible. But, off top if head, if indeed the problem, no reason it cannot be supported.

That would be great. It makes sense that the forum admins want to be reachable at all times though in our case teachers are also admins which quickly becomes a problem when students send lots of off topic questions during a course.

Actually – so far I have been totally unable to replicate this issue.

Do you have access to and know how to look at your database tables directly?

Yes, I do, on both accounts.

Excellent.

Could you please take a look at the table called sfmembers and find the row for your entry (by the user_id column probably).

What I would like – if possible – is for you to copy and paste the content of the column named user_options so I can take a close look at how the settings are being stored.

Hope that is possible.