A warning about IM's

[YaBB Master (Colin)]

Have you set the flag so that you get sent an email when you receive a new IM?
Have you noticed that the notification  email says "Do not reply to this email"?
Does your email address work?
Does your email address send an automatic "I'm out of the office message"?
Is somebody going to reply to the notification, instead of of the IM?
Does any of the above apply to the person you sent the IM to?

Well these are some of the ways that can cause the board's server to send me error messages, which includes the private message.
I really don't want to see into your private hells and I certainly don't need to read people bitching about each other, or more specifically me. I might do something rash.

So my advice is to keep the really private stuff in emails.

[YaBB Master (Colin)]

I would like to bring this to your attention again. (Because I've been asked)

My advice again is to keep private stuff in emails.

All of the above things do happen every day.

Also as with any other form of message on the Internet, it's only the equivalent of sending a postcard. The only reason it's secure, is that there are so many of them.
I could also just print out the raw database and the messages would be in there. This is also true with any message system.
Some boards even allow the admins to directly read the IM's. This one doesn't.