# Personal message responses should not have a minimum length

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/personal-message-responses-should-not-have-a-minimum-length/207900>\
**Category:** UX\
**Tags:** personal-messages\
**Created:** [November 1, 2021, 9:49pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/personal-message-responses-should-not-have-a-minimum-length/207900 "2021-11-01T21:49:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 5

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**Author:** ![kornelski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/kornelski/32/211141_2.png) [@kornelski](https://meta.discourse.org/u/kornelski)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2022, 10:33pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/personal-message-responses-should-not-have-a-minimum-length/207900/5 "2022-06-12T22:33:22Z")

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I’ve ran into the same thing. I’m surprised that this setting even exists, and that it has a default \> 0. This is IMHO an unpleasant default behavior, and puts burden on site admins to fix it.

I understand the desire to limit “noise” in a public discussion, but 1:1 conversations are completely different. It’s fine to have a limit on the first message to avoid low-effort “hi”, but not for replies. If someone has sent the first message they’ve already given an implicit permission to receive a reply.

I don’t think the heart button is a sufficient substitute. It doesn’t feel like a proper reply to me. It is a bit ambiguous (is it merely an acknowledgement, or did I _love_ the message?). I _want_ to reply with a manually typed text, even if short, because it feels more appropriate and personal than just pressing a button.

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_[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/personal-message-responses-should-not-have-a-minimum-length/207900)._