I’m working on a plugin that will not update a users last_posted_at when sending a private message. Our use case is probably unique, but people have been using it to solve the forum game we run. We run mafia games using discourse. The mafia/scum faction would use private messages to communicate. …

The hack should be OK. I guess you are asking “Should core stop updating last posted at, when you post on messages” My answer is … maybe… we would carefully work through a change like this. Probably take a day or 2 to get it perfect. There are concerns around huge amount of testing that depends on…

I suggest you go for it and see what happens. Report back here after a few weeks.

I was unsure of the consequences of completely removing it. Also it seems like a cool metric that is useful to see who is active etc.

Just thought id report back. been on for two weeks. have not seen any negative effects.

Not Updating `last_posted_at` when sending a private message

Development

Stephen (Stephen) June 27, 2019, 1:43pm 4

Wouldn’t it just be simpler to remove last posted at from the interface entirely for communities who need it?

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Bug Blog: “LastPosted” reveals non-public data about users, exploited to gain advantages Feature	3	691	November 19, 2018
"Last Post" stat exposes private message dates (privacy bug) Feature	1	1021	October 30, 2019
Last post date not updated in the timeline after posting UX	1	453	August 7, 2023
Does the 'Posted' field in the user card include topics in private categories? Product Support user-card	18	435	September 28, 2024
How to update a private message by API? Development rest-api	3	1039	January 9, 2022

Not Updating `last_posted_at` when sending a private message

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