Messaging (ESR Help Topic)

Messages are private internal messages between two or more users on ESR (messages cannot be sent to external email addresses). Messages can be viewed by clicking on the number (which indicates the number of unread messages you've got) above messages in the user control panel at the top right of your page. Once you get there, you'll see "all messages", "unread" and "sent" which all do exactly what they say. All messages will show all of the messages that have been sent to you, unread will show you any new messages that you haven't read yet and sent will show you the messages that you've sent to other users and groups.

There are a number of different ways to send a message:

1. From the inbox / sent messages view
2. Select "write a message" from the create button
3. When viewing another users profile, look for "Send Message"
4. Look for the message (envelope) icon attached to a user's avatar throughout the site, such as when viewing content
5. To message all members of a group, go to the group page and look for "group message"

If you initiate a new message via either #1 or #2 (noted above) you'll need to fill in the "To" field yourself, which involves typing the recipient's username in full (make sure you get it exactly right). The quickest way to message someone is to initiate the message through one of the other methods, which automatically adds the recipient in the "To" field for you.

Messages are just like any other type of content, except that they are kept private between the sender and recipient. So, you can add photos, video and content from My Garage just like you would for a post! This is particularly useful, for example, if you want to send a classified to a friend that you think they might be interested in, or message a group with a route you want everyone to go ride.