IM (Instant Message)Instant Message
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The MCC Ministry Development Centre is about community and communication. And there are plenty of ways to communicate: Posting on the boards, Instant Messaging, E-mail, ICQ, AIM and YIM. Of course, all methods of communication are only available to members. An exception is when the Forum Staff decides to allow guests to post on the boards: in this case all unregistered users are NOT allowed to do is viewing the Member List and sending Personal Messages to members.
While e-mail is a good way to correspond privately with members, it
has several drawbacks: You must open your e-mail application to write
and send the message; the recipient must open his/her e-mail application;
check his/her mail and your message will mixed in with all the other
mail and it can take sometimes several minutes to an hour for mail to
reach the recipient.
As an alternative to e-mail, our Centre (YaBB code) offers a faster, more private method.
Instant Messaging on the boards provides instantaneous delivery to the
recipient's Private Mailbox. The mail is sent and received entirely
through the Centre, so neither you nor the recipient have to open another
program or leave Centre. Instant Messaging also gives both the sender
and recipient greater privacy: No one's real e-mail address is revealed.
Instant Messages show only the handle and name of both parties.
If a recipient isn't online, Instant Messages wait in the member's IM box until the next time s/he logs in and manually reads and/or deletes them. The MDC Ministry Development Centre Instant Messages are a self-contained, highly private e-mail system.
How to send an Instant Message:
There are several ways, but the easiest way is to click on the member's name under the left column box that says "Users Online".
Once you click on the member's name you want to message, you'll be presented with their specific user id screen.
Scroll to the bottom of that page and you'll see "Additional Information" and the third line down from that says "Send this member a private message". Click on that phrase and you'll be taken to a New Message page where you can then type in your Subject and Message.
Once you have completed your message you can preview it first and then make any changes. You can also just send the message as well without previewing it.
When you have sent your Instant Message, the member will be notified that they have a new message at the top of the page. For EXAMPLE, my alert for instant messages says:
Hey, otter, you have 3 messages, 1 is new.
That's pretty much it - if you have any questions,
please post it on the forum board FAQ's.