I sometimes get private messages from people who just want to say hi or say thanks. It’s annoying that “Thanks!” is too short for responses to private messages.
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This can be changed via the min personal message post length site setting I believe
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The post length requirement for PMs can be configured by the site admin, the setting is called min personal message post length and by default it’s a little shorter than the minimum public post length requirement.
Sometimes people find short messages like “Thanks!” annoying (did this need to be a message at all? maybe the like button is enough!), so the default is to require someone to put a little effort into their message before sending it to someone.
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Okay thanks, I’ll ask the people who manage the site in question.
This is also why I specified responses only. I think the minimum length is very reasonable for the first message in a PM thread.
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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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