should I reply?

[CarlosCanto]

after reading here that some users are being spammed via PM, it got me thinking...I just got one PM with a question that seems to be legit, but the user joined today, probably a few minutes ago, he/she has 0 questions but saying

"Hello, I am new on the forum and everyone suggestion I seek your help."

...is that how spammers get a "live" account? by me replying?

[Claudio_González1]

I would be very suspicious of someone who asks for help through privete messages instead of posting in the forums. If I were you, I wouldn't reply.

[the_wine_snob]

Claudio,

I am not sure that those criteria would be enough to blow off the request.

For whatever reason, I get PM requests for help, from people, who have NEVER posted to any Adobe Forum.

In most cases, I try to send them first, to the appropriate Adobe product forum, where they will get quick answers.

Hunt

[John T Smith]

>"Hello, I am new on the forum and everyone suggestion I seek your help."

I sometimes receive private requests... with REAL questions about technical subjects

The question you quoted does not seem real to me (unless there was an actual question that you did not post) I would not reply

[CarlosCanto]

yeah, there is an actual question that I didn't post...what got me thinking was that "everyone" was suggesting seeking my help when there were 0 posts in the account

Update...

the user just posted the same question in the forum, I'm replying there...but generally speaking it would be good to know if the chances of being spammed are greater if we reply to a message vs ignoring it.

thanks Claudio & John

[pwillener]

I personally find it rude if a user seeks preferred treatment by sending me a PM instead of posting in the forum.  In the past I have replied to such request by asking them to post in the forum, but recently I have stopped replying.

The whole reason these forums are here is that users can post, and anyone who has any information on the problem at hand can jump in.  PMing renders the forums useless.

[station_two]

This is my standard, one-click, boilerplate text reply both to PMs and to posts that request replies by email:

"Questions and answers by private messages and through email are strongly discouraged and frowned upon because they defeat the main purpose of these user to user forums, which is for all users to benefit from all questions and all replies, not just the original poster.

"Please post your question in the forums."

[Jacob Bugge]

Carlos,

In addition to what the others have said, I doubt whether merely answering such a PM may start any automatic spamming, at least beyond the PM Inbox; but it may prove the receiver too friendly to be left alone by someone with less nice intentions.

What appears to be the right (non) response may depend on the perceived genuineness of the request, but in any case no one has any obligation to respond in connexion with the forums.