# Removing oneself from private messages
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/removing-oneself-from-private-messages/56170
**Category:** Feature
**Created:** [22.Январь.2017 21:08:58 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/removing-oneself-from-private-messages/56170 "2017-01-22T21:08:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@charleswalter](https://meta.discourse.org/u/charleswalter)
#### Post date: [22.Январь.2017 21:08:58 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/removing-oneself-from-private-messages/56170/1 "2017-01-22T21:08:58Z")
Our users are unable to remove themselves from private messages. I was under the impression that all users had this option. Is it only available for admins? Is there a related option in the control panel?
Here is a screenshot a user shared with me
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [22.Январь.2017 21:11:55 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/removing-oneself-from-private-messages/56170/2 "2017-01-22T21:11:55Z")
Not sure, this was @sam’s design as I recall.
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### Author:  [@charleswalter](https://meta.discourse.org/u/charleswalter)
#### Post date: [23.Январь.2017 21:35:49 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/removing-oneself-from-private-messages/56170/3 "2017-01-23T21:35:49Z")
Thx. @sam is this a bug? I would expect users should be able to remove themselves from unwanted private messages. Ideally users can block other members of the community who are abusive to them
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [23.Январь.2017 21:37:05 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/removing-oneself-from-private-messages/56170/4 "2017-01-23T21:37:05Z")
Not a bug, just something I did not really think about.
For the time being for the 1 in 1000 times a user needs to remove themselves from a PM
- Option 1. Just mute and ignore with controls at the bottom
- Option 2. Flag PM and have a moderator do it for you
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [23.Январь.2017 23:56:04 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/removing-oneself-from-private-messages/56170/5 "2017-01-23T23:56:04Z")
Is there any particular reason we don’t allow people to remove themselves from a PM at any time? This seems safe to me?
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [24.Январь.2017 00:04:46 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/removing-oneself-from-private-messages/56170/6 "2017-01-24T00:04:46Z")
No particular reason, but a bunch of code will need to be added
Also, undo is super tricky
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [24.Январь.2017 00:09:43 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/removing-oneself-from-private-messages/56170/7 "2017-01-24T00:09:43Z")
I don’t feel we need to offer undo here, just a confirm dialog
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [24.Январь.2017 00:17:23 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/removing-oneself-from-private-messages/56170/8 "2017-01-24T00:17:23Z")
A bit easier but still not a trivial change, there is currently no fidelity built into the remove from pm permission
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### Author:  [@charleswalter](https://meta.discourse.org/u/charleswalter)
#### Post date: [24.Январь.2017 03:58:58 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/removing-oneself-from-private-messages/56170/9 "2017-01-24T03:58:58Z")
Thx. I’ve advised the users to mute the message and then archive it so that it doesn’t show up in their main inbox.
Ultimately, it appears we have users who are starting to abuse the private messages, and it will be helpful to have a way for the system to better recognize that users are blocking a user or taking action against a user.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [24.Январь.2017 04:07:33 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/removing-oneself-from-private-messages/56170/10 "2017-01-24T04:07:33Z")
One change that made it into in 1.7 – if you mute a user it is impossible for them to send you a PM.
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### Author:  [@charleswalter](https://meta.discourse.org/u/charleswalter)
#### Post date: [24.Январь.2017 04:24:51 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/removing-oneself-from-private-messages/56170/11 "2017-01-24T04:24:51Z")
Thats very helpful! I didnt even realize the mute user feature.
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### Author:  [@charleswalter](https://meta.discourse.org/u/charleswalter)
#### Post date: [26.Январь.2017 04:35:19 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/removing-oneself-from-private-messages/56170/12 "2017-01-26T04:35:19Z")
Perhaps I’m not searching properly, but are there more details about the mute feature in 1.7?
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### Author:  [@zogstrip](https://meta.discourse.org/u/zogstrip)
#### Post date: [26.Январь.2017 10:27:25 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/removing-oneself-from-private-messages/56170/13 "2017-01-26T10:27:25Z")
If you go to [https://www.helloforos.com/my/preferences](https://www.helloforos.com/my/preferences), at the bottom of the page, you can list users you want to mute. That’s pretty much all there is to the mute feature 😉
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### Author:  [@charleswalter](https://meta.discourse.org/u/charleswalter)
#### Post date: [26.Январь.2017 11:44:58 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/removing-oneself-from-private-messages/56170/14 "2017-01-26T11:44:58Z")
That’s great! I had been looking for it on the actual user page of the user I would wish to mute.
I will inform our users about this feature. Is there a writeup of exactly what muting a user does? (besides preventing them from sending you a PM)
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### Author:  [@zogstrip](https://meta.discourse.org/u/zogstrip)
#### Post date: [26.Январь.2017 11:50:37 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/removing-oneself-from-private-messages/56170/15 "2017-01-26T11:50:37Z")
I don’t think we’ve ever written one, but you might be interested in reading this topic
> [@Feature Request: A Civilized Mute for Users](https://meta.discourse.org/t/feature-request-a-civilized-mute-for-users/22114):
>
> I’m proposing a feature request here for a mute user functionality in discourse. I’ve seen a lot of people express interest on one level or another for the ability to block or ignore users. There’s been a fair bit of discussion for and against such a feature. The biggest argument for a mute feature it to block a users ability to generate a massive amount of notification spam, which itself could prevent a user from using discourse effectively as notifications are lost. The biggest argument agai…
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [06.Март.2018 06:39:41 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/removing-oneself-from-private-messages/56170/16 "2018-03-06T06:39:41Z")
@tgxworld I recall you did something here a few months ago.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [06.Март.2018 07:38:58 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/removing-oneself-from-private-messages/56170/17 "2018-03-06T07:38:58Z")
Yes this is definitely done, users can remove themselves from a PM as of version 1.8 I believe.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [06.Март.2018 07:39:00 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/removing-oneself-from-private-messages/56170/18 "2018-03-06T07:39:00Z")