Unless it states it in terms and conditions admin can and will, on my site our terms and condititons read that admin reserve the right to investigate PM 's if it is felt that members are using the PM system in an inappropiate way.. however with an Invision board you have to have a hack to read them... we don't so don't read them ! depends what you mean by the term PM do you call it private or personal messages ... under law the site owner has full copyright of everything on posted on the board so therefore own the PM's as well
AHHO PM system is 100% safe - as in me, as admin, has no way or inclination to read any of the PMs - so if you want to PM someone securely that is the place to do it.
I don't see why it would matter if Admin can read your PMs on here, as the board isn't moderated (really) and Admin aren't part of the community. I'm sure Admin have better things to do than read everyone's PMs, which are mostly just gossip about horses and relationships anyway.
That's fine but then if you want to make defamatory remarks then swap email addresses and do it privately. This is no different to people who use work email for personal use and then complain when their company bo****k them.
I think the point is some people actually thought it was private, as I have done with sending PM's to other members I didnt think they would be seen by admin
Mine would be very dull...is my horse meant to do this, what are you doing at the weekend, why is my man behaving like a t***.... and other such fascinating subjects LOL!
With the majority of Forum Boards Admin can read PM's, but this is usually reserved for when there is a problem between members that Admin has been alerted to. The Forum Boards I am Admin on have no access to PM's. I wouldn't read them anyhow.