# Admins can see private messages in user's profiles?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/admins-can-see-private-messages-in-users-profiles/19750
**Category:** Site feedback
**Created:** [September 7, 2014, 11:52am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/admins-can-see-private-messages-in-users-profiles/19750 "2014-09-07T11:52:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@almereyda](https://meta.discourse.org/u/almereyda)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2014, 11:52am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/admins-can-see-private-messages-in-users-profiles/19750/1 "2014-09-07T11:52:33Z")
I am wondering how this complies with Human Rights to privacy and uninterruptedness (?) of private communication.
What’cha thinking?
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### Author:  [@BhaelOchon](https://meta.discourse.org/u/BhaelOchon)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2014, 3:07pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/admins-can-see-private-messages-in-users-profiles/19750/2 "2014-09-07T15:07:16Z")
Are you saying all an admin has to do is to navigate to a user’s profile, and they can see that user’s private messages?
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### Author:  [@AstonJ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/AstonJ)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2014, 4:21pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/admins-can-see-private-messages-in-users-profiles/19750/3 "2014-09-07T16:21:11Z")
I am not sure if it’s as easy as Bill is suggesting, but it would be easy enough to look at PMs via the database anyway.
I think they should be called conversations or personal or direct messages rather than private, because saying they are private leaves a user with an expectation of privacy where measures are put in place so the messages are indeed private.
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### Author:  [@illspirit](https://meta.discourse.org/u/illspirit)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2014, 4:49pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/admins-can-see-private-messages-in-users-profiles/19750/4 "2014-09-07T16:49:41Z")
Yes all an admin has to do is go to a user’s profile page and browse away at their private messages.
This should be fixed, there’s no reason it needs to be that easy for an admin to view supposedly private messages.
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### Author:  [@anon94057749](https://meta.discourse.org/u/anon94057749)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2014, 5:01pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/admins-can-see-private-messages-in-users-profiles/19750/5 "2014-09-07T17:01:21Z")
> [@AstonJ](#):
>
> but it would be easy enough to look at PMs via the database anyway.
Not all admins have direct database access.
> [@illspirit](#):
>
> This should be fixed,
Seconded. Or at least a toaster that warns that private messages are not _that_ private really and people shouldn’t post sensitive data there (with a “don’t show this again” checkbox, of course).
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### Author:  [@Vocino](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Vocino)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2014, 5:05pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/admins-can-see-private-messages-in-users-profiles/19750/6 "2014-09-07T17:05:21Z")
You shouldn’t have lots of admins or even moderators. My community of 1000 members has 1 admin (me) and 1 highly trusted moderator.
You should be using the Leader and Elder trust levels for everything else. Those people can help with pinning posts, cleaning up the forum, and making sure things are nice and tidy. This comes without any access to private user data which only I have (the same person that could simply query the database).
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### Author:  [@BhaelOchon](https://meta.discourse.org/u/BhaelOchon)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2014, 5:36pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/admins-can-see-private-messages-in-users-profiles/19750/7 "2014-09-07T17:36:52Z")
Agreed. PMs should only be visible to an admin if that admin is impersonating the user. Oh wait, I feel like we’ve had that discussion before, too…
[https://meta.discourse.org/t/impersonation-and-reading-private-messages/8485](https://meta.discourse.org/t/impersonation-and-reading-private-messages/8485)
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### Author:  [@Mittineague](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mittineague)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2014, 6:40pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/admins-can-see-private-messages-in-users-profiles/19750/9 "2014-09-07T18:40:37Z")
> [@illspirit](#):
>
> you can’t assume all users are going to trust the admins on the site they’re on
Then why would they want to be members there?
IMHO if you can’t trust the Admin - don’t join the site.
I agree that personal messages should not be visible to others _except_ the Admin (NOT Moderators) on a _need to know_ basis.
There may be times when an Admin _needs_ to check PMs to resolve an issue.
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### Author:  [@dax](https://meta.discourse.org/u/dax)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2021, 2:04pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/admins-can-see-private-messages-in-users-profiles/19750/12 "2021-12-24T14:04:29Z")
Moderators can see Personal Messages only if they are added as recipients or if a PM is flagged and ends up in the review queue.
Admins have full access to the site, including PMs. However, there is a special setting that, if activated, records in the logs when an admin accesses the PM of others.
For those admins who want to guarantee the absolute privacy of PMs, I recommend installing the [Discourse Encrypt (for Private Messages)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-encrypt-for-private-messages/107918) plugin.
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### Author:  [@dax](https://meta.discourse.org/u/dax)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2021, 2:04pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/admins-can-see-private-messages-in-users-profiles/19750/14 "2021-12-24T14:04:39Z")