# Phase out redundant flag PM in favor of full PM functionality
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/phase-out-redundant-flag-pm-in-favor-of-full-pm-functionality/76946
**Category:** UX
**Created:** [29 december 2017 om 22:28 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/phase-out-redundant-flag-pm-in-favor-of-full-pm-functionality/76946 "2017-12-29T22:28:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Drew\_Warwick](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Drew_Warwick)
#### Post date: [29 december 2017 om 22:28 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/phase-out-redundant-flag-pm-in-favor-of-full-pm-functionality/76946/1 "2017-12-29T22:28:40Z")
As a community guide, I PM users a lot on our Discourse forum. Since it’s usually in response to their posts (feedback, suggestions, etc), the most convenient way to PM them is flag → PM like so:
However, this has caused a number of problems in the past:
- There is a character limit, so sometimes I have to truncate my PM, send, open the PM, and then edit in the text overflow
- This is a non-standard editor, so it doesn’t have support for features like @/# autocomplete and the preview
- Since I use “Something Else” flags and PMs so frequently, I habitually click the buttons instead of looking at them. Sometimes I send a PM as a flag, or a flag as a PM, and don’t realize since their text boxes are the same
Instead of having a selectable bullet option in that list for PMs, there should be a message button that opens the full editor with the appropriate template for flag PMs.
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### Author:  [@tophee](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tophee)
#### Post date: [29 december 2017 om 22:38 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/phase-out-redundant-flag-pm-in-favor-of-full-pm-functionality/76946/2 "2017-12-29T22:38:17Z")
Thanks for raising that issue (which I’ve also wanted to do) and for what looks like a good solution mockup.
In the meantime, it might help to know that you can sort of (very sort of) work around the limitation by composing a message in that flag modal and then navigating to your messages and editing it (ideally within the 5 minute grace period, before it gets emailed out.) Won’t work so well, of course, of the recipient is online and reads it straight away.
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [29 december 2017 om 22:48 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/phase-out-redundant-flag-pm-in-favor-of-full-pm-functionality/76946/3 "2017-12-29T22:48:09Z")
I like the concept but getting the UI right is going to be tricky. It just does not feel right there.
Maybe simply an “expand” button at bottom right of the text box, that gives you a simple outlet to get to full UI.
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### Author:  [@schungx](https://meta.discourse.org/u/schungx)
#### Post date: [30 december 2017 om 06:30 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/phase-out-redundant-flag-pm-in-favor-of-full-pm-functionality/76946/4 "2017-12-30T06:30:37Z")
Is there any diff if you click on the user’s avatar and then click Message?
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### Author:  [@Drew\_Warwick](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Drew_Warwick)
#### Post date: [30 december 2017 om 06:42 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/phase-out-redundant-flag-pm-in-favor-of-full-pm-functionality/76946/5 "2017-12-30T06:42:11Z")
Yes. Time spent loading new page, I can’t read or easily quote the post I’m PMing about while drafting the PM, and having to manually copy over the title/post link to the PM.
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### Author:  [@tophee](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tophee)
#### Post date: [16 maart 2018 om 09:00 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/phase-out-redundant-flag-pm-in-favor-of-full-pm-functionality/76946/6 "2018-03-16T09:00:31Z")
I suppose this has been addressed by the new reply mode toggle feature?
> [@Menu toggle for different reply modes](https://meta.discourse.org/t/menu-toggle-for-different-reply-modes/58133):
>
> Continuing the discussion from [With the new right gutter, where should "Reply as Linked Topic" go?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/with-the-new-right-gutter-where-should-reply-as-linked-topic-go/44815/81): This would also be useful for selecting a whisper type reply per the earlier mock-up in the original topic.