I have updated our FAQ with a more detailed statement requesting that all questions stay public, not be sent in “private” messages. I have also added a warning that “private” messages aren’t private here and may be made public.
Keep the discussion Public
Please do not ask to take a discussion private, and please do not reach out to forum members in private messages to ask questions. Everyone has questions. Share yours here, and we can all learn together.
The reason to have a forum is to share information for everyone. Ask your questions in public posts. Taking questions to private messages tells all other forum participants that they are not worth learning from your questions.
Note that “private” messages on all Discourse forums like Maker Forums are not particularly private. All “private” message are visible to all staff, all participants in any “private” message can add other people or even groups of people to the “private” message, and your “private” message may be moved to public messages in the forum at any recipient’s discretion. Do not post on Maker Forums, even in a private message, any information that you wish to keep secret.