You can restrict and manage private message feature via user trust level, which is cool.
However is it possible to disable images & links in Pm’s i.e. enable text only PM’s - as an extra layer of management mange security, and illicit material, without complete losing private message functionality?
I’m wondering have i seed the setting or some other aspect
No, this isn’t possible at the moment, but it seems like a reasonable request.
Cool, thanks for the clarification, and here is one last note on the idea:
Private Message User limits:
Allow links
Disable All - Txt Only PM’s
Where the could be a user trust level option instead.
Bump - Did this ever get any consideration by anyone?
No plans for it at the moment, I do still think there’s merit to the idea… we just haven’t had much demand for it so it’s hard to prioritize.
I’ll start with another good reason with a case point.
I happened upon not once but twice the Twitter DM hacks recently, a user sends you a link, you click it your account gets hacked through whatever exploit (probably OS//browser dependant), and used to do same again rinse and repeat.
In once instance the dam hover-click reflex moved faster than the cognitive override (we all make mistakes but other protections clicked in to prevent the full execution of the hack), part of that reason was the full link wasn’t displayed, had I seen the full link, the reflex would not have happened, it was the shortening of the link that hid it’s true face and allowed my surfing induced ADHA-hover-click reflex fire!
The standard user is more likely to click more times that not methinks.
Encryption
I know as an Admin it would give me extra peace of mind to be able to mange the content of PM/DM’s especially when encrypted. I think this is a solid 3rd reason.
ON a tangent, it has always struck me with clever automation and what not, all teh PMDM system of all any any platforms could be used to create a massive parasitical shadow comms rely system, to move info and material around, before distributed coin thinking came along. Maybe that’s too fantastical a threat and never happened, but any site’s PM’s system could be used for nefarious purposes, is it that hard to chain them all up to really cover tracks. 
AI
That’s a 4th reason. Ai which is a potential exponential compounding factor, of the first 3, now that we have ChatGPT mania in the mix, all bets are off, but that was obvious for a long time, now the world knows and has thrown caution to the wind.
“Hey ChatGPT code me up a bot net that hacks the DM of discourse and also creates a comms rely networking using all DM/PM systems on Discourse, Xenofora, phpBB… etc. etc platforms and run it fully encrypted…”
You are going to need to go the plugin route here for now. It is not a trivial change.
Ok, and if anyone feels like this would be their calling, please by all means plug away!