Why is there a PM limit?

[Gwazi Magnum]

I just ran into the max amount of PM's deal, preventing someone from sending me one.

So I ran through to delete some of them to fix the problem...
Except I can't delete them, but I can leave them.

Which, has the same effect on my end, reducing inbox space.
But the PM's aren't actually being deleted... Meaning Iwaku is still storing them. Which makes me have to wonder what's the purpose of such a limit to begin with?

 

[IntrusivePenDesperateSword]

Donators don't have that limit. Its existance is clearly to further raise the bourgeois above the working class.

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

Donators don't have that limit. Its existance is clearly to further raise the bourgeois above the working class.

The time of the Staff is over.
It is now the time of the Shitposter.

(Shitposting aside, I would like to know why we have such a limit in place if not for storage reasons).

 

[Hecatoncheires]

Because of the international Jewish banking conspiracy, obvs.

 

[Jorick]

The reason you only leave PMs rather than deleting them is a quirk of the system. They're effectively private threads that only a limited number of people have access to, so deleting them under this system would make everyone lose it. The storage space upside of this system is that instead of needing to create and store X copies of every message (where X = number of people included in the PM), there is one single copy and everyone is just granted access to it, so from the very beginning it takes up half or less the total storage space compared to the same messages being sent via a traditional PM system. Another positive here is you can add new people to a private conversation and they can see everything that was posted in it before, which is great for things like plotting, world building, running site events, and so on. The downside is what you've noticed here: the messages are only actually deleted if everyone leaves the conversation.

The limit is there because storage space for private messages is not unlimited. Most of the messages do eventually tend to get deleted because those who are most prolific with PM usage will repeatedly run up against that cap, so they'll need to prune messages regularly, and the other people in the conversation will eventually do the same. Huge chunks of private messages also get deleted when old inactive accounts get deleted. I honestly have no idea how this sort of system compares to a traditional one as far as long term storage needs are concerned, but I suspect that it's at worst about equal.

The whole storage issue is strange when it comes to this system of private messages, but as I understand it it was chosen as the system with the best balance between storage concerns and desired nice features.

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

That makes sense.

That way no matter how many people don't leave the convo, it still only takes up as much space as if one person was still in it.