Hello everyone! I'm new here to Steemit, but one of the first things I noticed about Steemit's various functions is that there is a lack of any kind of messaging system, aside from the comments. I wanted to take a moment here to discuss two possible ideas, and get some feedback. Hopefully someone along the way can help make a difference here on Steemit.
Public Messages
Many users don't like the idea of messages being private due to harrassment and the like, so one idea that comes to mind is a form of public messaging. Let's say for example, you visit someone's profile, there you can view their blogs, posts, etc., but there would also be a public message or comment section, where other users can ask that specific user questions or provide feedback. Something like this would help prevent spam and harrassment, because it could be publicly viewed and moderated.
Private Messages
Other users may like to keep their messages between one another secret, in order to secure privacy and safety. An option here would be to have a sort of inbox available where messages would go if someone clicked a "Message" button on your profile. This would allow users to easily collaborate, communicate, and share ideas. The downside to this is that it would be much harder to moderate unless the people residing over the rules and restrictions had access to everyone's private messages, which defeats the purpose of the "private" bit.
Possible Restrictions to Mitigate Abuse
Below I will list some restrictions that could be applied to users in order to prevent the abuse of the message system, or users themselves, in the case that private, public, or both kinds of messages become a function on Steemit.
- Users can only submit Public or Private Messages to another user if their Reputation Level (the number next to your username in parentheses) is above a certain threshold. This would prevent people with low reputations and low quality posts from spamming or harrassing other users.
- Users can only send a specified number of Public or Private Messages per day. This would alleviate spamming and make moderation easier.
- Moderators could view Public or Private Messages in order to take action, such as warnings and bans.
- Public and Private messages could also theoretically be completely unmonitored, resulting in no drop in privacy, but an increase in abuse. However, maybe users could have the option of blocking other users from messaging them, or something similar.
Please let me know what you think and discuss below! I'd love to have some of the more veteran Steemit members' opinions as well!