Unified : IMS

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Unified : IMS

Unified's IMS module allows users to send short messages to each other privately.

What's IMS?
IMS stands for 'Internal Messaging System', and is in many ways comparable to email. Registering on the site allows you to send and receive IMS'es to and from other site users. This way you can send a message privately to another site user without having to email him. When you have received new messages from someone else, they will be kept and you will be notified at you next site visit on the navigation bar. The IMS comes with a complete inbox manager. Administration notes and updates are also sent via IMS. You should try it out, it's cool :)

IMS is also used for casual technical support. If you have a question or a problem with the site, you should send and IMS to the root user, called 'Administrator'. That particular message is treated specially and comes to our staff page, where someone from our staff will reply to your questions. You will receive your answer back via IMS, of course.

How does it work?
Unified has an enourmous database system that keeps track on everything that happens on the site. Stuff you post in the forums, or news we post on the front page, all that is kept in the database. So are your IMS'es. When someone sends you a message, it will be stored in our database, in a special place that is reserved for your personal IMS'es only - some sort of inbox if you will. This means that nobody can possibly read your messages. Should there be any unread IMS'es when you login, you will be informed of this in the navbar, inviting you to read your new mail with a link. It works the same way for sending messages, except that your message will land in the 'inbox' of the person you've written to.

IMS FAQ
Here are a few fequently asked questions with their answers; these should answer possible questions you might have about our IMS service.

Q: Is the size or amount of messages I can have in my inbox limited?
A: No. There is no restriction whatsoever on the amount of messages you have in your inbox. So, feel free to keep all your messages if you want to. Since IMS doesn't allow file attachments, a bunch of text-only messages won't take very much of our resources. We will certainly not spy or delete your personal messages.
Q: Can I make announcements with this system to a large chunk of users?
A: No, the IMS system is not a mailinglist, nor a way to spread some announcements in masses. If you want to do that, use the forums. You might want to report your stuff to our newshounds. If it's worth it, we'll post it for sure!
Q: Can I see a list of sent messages?
A: Unfortunately, no. We've been looking into this option, but with the current database structure it was preferable not to add in this option. This is for the simple reason that IMS is internal. If you send a message, there is no copy saved on your local computer. Instead, that copy will be placed in the inbox of the person you wrote to. So we cannot give you access to that, can we? :) Email is different because your mail client keeps a copy of outgoing messages. On the IMS system, that copy happens to be the same copy that is delivered to the recipient.