My comments are legitimate submission explanations, such as word blends. I assume those are still considered OK? It’s just the actual private messages we’re talking about.
I also would like to be able to:
Respond to CHs who are sending me PMs. There’s been some very talkative CHs lately, like Juliet.
I have a personal policy of sending thank you messages to CHs that are not SH abandoned contests. Must I stop? 
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The intention of this change was not to “shame” people or imply that it is wrong to send private messages. We believe in as much transparency as possible, and will continue to add features that make this platform more transparent and a level playing field for everyone. This is the reason why we include other stats on the contestant’s page so their number of submissions and rating history are visible to everyone.
As I stated in my original message, please use your best judgement in sending private messages. If you are sending explanation for submissions, it is better to send those as entry comments so the comment shows right next to the submission. If you are sending other messages that are questions or comments related to contest, and can potentially benefit others, please keep them public. If they are general messages like “thank you”, it is up to you to decide whether to send those privately or as a public comments. Instead of creating more policies, we prefer the creatives use their best judgement in deciding between private vs public comment. However, if we continue to see certain contestants taking advantage of private messaging, we will take further actions.
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Totally agree, Lorin.
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where am I supposed to see these shameful people
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I can tell you the numbers don’t show true representation about those seeking private info vs other things. For example, 98% of my “private messages” are just posted on the comment board asking the contest holder to rate because we have a limit on entries or to please let EVERYONE know if we can delete seen but not rated ones. But since I hate getting 50 emails of everyone posting on all the comment boards, I just click it private. Waaay different than contacting them asking for inside info.
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still no idea what anyone is talking about a I cant see anything
Jose are you looking on your phone? That part of my profile doesn’t show up when I’m on the mobile site for some reason… Only when I’m on my computer. @Dan maybe you could look into that?
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Would that also delete my saved internet passwords? Sorry, don’t exactly know how all that works… haha
If you saved them so Google or whichever browser you use remembered them then no it won’t, but it will log you out.
Oh okay, cool, I will try it. Thanks!
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@jackie. I often send pm’s letting CHs know that guaranteeing the contest would likely encourage creatives to submit their best ideas. I’ve always figured it was more appropriate to ask said question in private so they wouldn’t feel I was calling them out?
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I was previously castigated by other members for asking questions in public…hence I started asking a few in private.
One ends up not knowing what one should be doing
I expect Maria Sharapova feels the same way about rule changes ;-), I wonder how she gets her hair so smooth
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OK I am totally confused. I have only one private message, it is a response to one I received from a CH. Should I not respond to a private message with a private message reply?
I want to make sure I am doing things correctly. Thanks.
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Grampam…Absolutely you should answer a PM from the CH if they message you.
I think the issue here was PM’s initiated by Creatives TO Ch…SH saw an increase in those and are monitoring them.
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Why we have a private message at all? Why you do not put an end to the private messages? We are so many people here and everything has to be open and clear.
Thank you.
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Because sometimes a CH wants you to tweak your names or has something to say to you that is only for you.It would expose your name if it was not a private comment. There are legitimate reasons at times for privacy.
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Makes sense to me as the need for any PM should be entry related
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Deleting a few posts to keep the discussion constructive…
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Under normal circumstances I would say it is important for the creative to speak to the client about private matters. However, in this platform things are different; the creatives technically do not have a client, SH does. So, the creatives should not be given direct communication options to the CH unless first contacted by them.
The only solution I see if the creative has some ‘private issue’ they need to discuss with the CH (which I seriously doubt is more than %0.5 of the time, REALLY) is to establish some sort of go-between Moderator from SH that the creatives send their voice to, which the SH Moderator can then filter what is appropriate and what isn’t.