English106-01-03 Introductory Composition

By default, private messaging is enabled on your site. Think of private messages like email, except that private messages only circulate on your site. This can be useful, because course communication may be aggregated in one place instead of spread across multiple applications. More importantly, Private messages are secure and may only be seen by the intended recipient. For this reason, Private messages should be used to transmit grade information instead of email.

You may send and receive private messages by clicking on the My inbox link. You may send a message to a user by clicking on the "Write a new message" button. The "To:" blank should contain the recipient's username (this blank will auto-complete, so you only need to type the first few letters). Then enter your subject and message, preview it, and click "Send private message." The "Sent messages" link in your inbox saves the private messages that you have sent.

Site users may also send you private messages using the same procedure. Your messages will appear in your inbox. When you have new messages, a number indicating the number of new messages will appear in parentheses next to the My inbox link. You will also see a notification at the top of every page on the site indicating that you have new messages until you read them.