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…

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

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.

Not Updating `last_posted_at` when sending a private message

Development

Roragok July 12, 2019, 1:27am 7

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

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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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